sg1cat

The Discovery, Chapter 21

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:13:37 GMT

I just published Chapter 21 of The Discovery. The link leads to fanfiction.net (again, the story is too large to post here).

The Discovery, Chapter 20

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:20:10 GMT

This is more of an announcement than anything else. The chapters I write for The Discovery are far too large to post here, but you can find chapter 20 at fanfiction.net.

Accidental Revelations, chapter 4

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:49:15 GMT

here's the piece i wrote for the oven's christmas exchange.

Thanks much to LC and Kelly for being my betas. Much appreciated, ladies. :D

Please be warned, this chapter has STRONG NC-17 content!

Accidental Revelations

Chapter 4

For the remaining two days of their stay in Atlantis, Daniel didn't see Vala once. Neither did anyone else, for that matter. In spite of his duties for their stay in the Pegasus galaxy, Daniel had spent a lot of time thinking about what had happened between he and Vala after the party. Everyone could tell he was very distracted, but no one asked why. Sam, Teal'c, and Cam talked about it once, quickly realizing they all knew what the reason was.

When the time came to leave, Daniel felt absolutely terrified when Vala didn't show up for the scheduled beam out. It was only at the last possible second that she strolled into the Atlantis Gateroom. Dr. Weir looked on in irritation as she told her search teams to stand down.

"Sorry I'm late," she told the members of SG-1, pointedly avoiding eye-contact with any of them, particularly Daniel.

Cam looked at her pensively, then glanced at Daniel to see the man watching her with a deeply worried expression. The Colonel had heard second and third hand what had happened at the party, stories of the unlikely couple off in the corner making out had been circulating wildly through the city ever since.

"It's okay," Mitchell answered thoughtfully. "Is everything okay?" he asked in a concerned voice.

"Yes," she answered quickly. "Can we go, please?"

Sharing a troubled glance with Sam, Cam keyed up his radio. "Emerson, this is SG-1, we are ready to depart."

The five were beamed up almost immediately. The Odyssey left shortly thereafter.

Once aboard, Daniel tried to approach Vala, but she quickly left the room, heading down the corridor in a fast walk. The archaeologist pursed his lips as he watched her go, frowning intently.

"Hey," he heard Mitchell behind him. Daniel turned to look at him

"Everything okay?" the Colonel asked, Teal'c and Sam watching him with very concerned expressions.

"I honestly don't know," Daniel said, walking off with a very worried expression.

For two frustrating days, Daniel spent his time in one of two ways. Either he was alone in his quarters, thinking more about what had happened, or he was out, looking for Vala. He never found her.

Over the last four days, the empty, panicky feeling he'd had in the pit of his stomach since she walked out on him in Atlantis had only gotten worse. He was antsy and very irritable. People who tried to talk to him quickly abandoned the effort. He also hadn't slept well since he and Vala had spent the night together.

On the third day of traveling home, Daniel sat alone in the officer's mess at dinner, watching with a tense expression as the colorful swirl of hyperspace flew by outside the window. Suddenly he got up from the table, leaving his plate of food untouched behind him.

Daniel stormed through the ship, clenching his hands in tight fists as his heart raced. He finally arrived at his destination. Frowning, his heart in his throat, he beat on the door urgently.

The door opened, and Vala looked at him with a surprised expression. "Daniel," she started to say, only for him to quickly walk past her into to her quarters.

"We need to talk," he said in a brusk voice as he brushed by.

She watched him bull into her room with a stunned expression, staring at him in silence as he moved to stand in the middle of her room, his gaze cast to the floor. "Won't you come in?" she finally asked in a bitterly sarcastic tone.

Daniel turned to face her, frowning. "Vala, could you please close the door?" he asked in a tight voice.

"I'm not sure I want to do that," she answered, watching him with a wary expression. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seem him this upset.

He sighed as he stared at her in frustration. Rolling his eyes, he cast his gaze to the floor "Come on, Vala. I think we've already established that you'll kick my ass if I try anything."

The raven-haired woman blinked in surprise. Any other time, she would have laughed at his words. Given the circumstance, however, she merely reached over and touched a control panel. The door to her quarters closed with a soft whisper.

Daniel lifted his head at the sound, really looking over at her for the first time. While he was wearing the standard blue BDUs, Vala was wearing a very attractive sweater and a pair of tight jeans. The sweater had a fancy pattern on it with a v-neck that plunged down her chest, showing considerable cleavage. For footware she wore a pair of fuzzy pink slippers.

He furrowed his brow at the sight. "Got a date?" he asked, unable to keep the bitter tone out of his voice, ignoring how incongruous the slippers were with the rest of her outfit.

Vala blinked in surprise at the question. "What business is that of yours?" she snapped back, placing her fists on her hips.

The archaeologist pursed his lips, letting his head hang. "It isn't," he said weakly. "I'm sorry, I just..." he sighed, unable to figure out what else to say.

She stared at him with a frown, completely at a loss to understand what she was seeing of the man here. "No," she said after a few moments of silence. "I don't have a date. I just got tired of wearing that silly uniform and wanted to wear something that looks and feels good."

An uncomfortable silence settled between them as Daniel continued to stare at the floor, a tense expression on his face. Vala watched him with a furrowed brow, completely confused and perhaps a little worried.

Finally, Vala asked, "Daniel, what..."

The sound of her voice brought him back to life. He looked up at her, his eyes so full of emotion that she fell silent, agape at the sight of it. "Vala, I need to talk with you about what happened between us..."

She stared back at him quietly for a short while, her eyebrows still knotted in confusion. Her gaze became tense, and she pursed her lips with a worried expression. Then she nodded. "Okay," she said in a soft, gentle voice. She walked from the door to sit down on the couch. Daniel watched her, his expression just as overwrought as when he entered.

"Why don't you sit with me?" Vala asked gently, placing her hand on the empty seat next to her. The archaeologist shook his head.

"No," he said, "I need to stand..." With that he started pacing, wringing his hands as he did.

He was silent at first, for so long that she almost said something to him. Just as she opened her mouth, he finally spoke.

"Vala, what happened between us the other night?" He blurted the question out with an urgent voice, coming to a standstill as he looked at her with an intense gaze.

Vala frowned at his words, closing her eyes and swallowing bitterly. She answered irritably, "Nothing happened, Daniel. We didn't have sex..."

"I know we didn't have sex," Daniel said shortly, interrupting her. "I remember everything, that's not what I was asking about."

The raven-haired woman opened her eyes in surprise at his words. She looked up at him with a tense gaze. "Then what did you mean?" she asked tightly, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice.

"I mean, what happened between us?" he repeated. Seeing her expression, he said, "We shared something that night, but what was it?"

A frustrated sigh escaped Vala's lips as she looked down, feeling intensely frustrated by the man. "I don't know, Daniel," she said. Then she shook her head, saying with a faltering voice. "It was nothing, you were drunk, that's all..."

She felt the couch shift as he sat down next to her. "No," he said firmly. She looked up at him with an astounded stare. "It wasn't nothing," he went on to say. "I meant what I told you about how I feel for you. I couldn't have been more honest." He paused, watching as her eyes grew wider as he spoke. He continued, speaking faster, "I'll admit it scared me at first, but it was and still is the absolute truth..."

Suddenly a cold sweat overtook Vala as she heard him say the words, her gut tightening up as she stared at him in shock, looking into his intense gaze with wide eyes. He stared at her in silence, waiting to see if she'd say anything. The woman was completely silent.

He sighed, looking down in frustration. When he spoke, his voice was laden with emotion. "Vala, you never told me how you feel...about me..." He looked up again, catching her gaze and holding it with his own. His eyes pleaded with her, begging her to tell him what he wanted to hear.

Vala frowned bitterly, "Daniel," she said weakly, "I know you don't want to hurt me, but it's actually worse if you go on pretending..."

"Dammit, Vala!" he barked, interrupting her. She jumped at his harsh reaction. He stood up quickly and resumed his pacing. Once again, she was about to say something when he suddenly stopped and looked at her, saying, "I told you how I felt, please, tell me if you feel the same way or not..."

An angry expression covered her face at his words and she barked back at him, "Daniel, give it up! You were drunk, you didn't know what you were saying..."

"Vala, I love you!" Daniel said loudly over top of her. The raven-haired woman stopped mid sentence, her mouth hanging open as she stared up at the man with a dumbfounded expression. All color drained from her face.

The archaeologist swallowed heavily, the knot in his gut getting painfully tight. He had never felt so nervous in his life. His whole body trembled. "I love you," he said more softly, looking into her eyes from where he stood. She stared back at him with wide eyes, unmoving after she closed her mouth.

For the space of several moments, neither of them said anything. From where he stood, Daniel could see she was breathing faster, he watched her swallow with difficulty. The man's anxiety became worse and worse with every second that passed.

Just when he opened his mouth to say something, Vala jumped up and rushed over to him, throwing her arms about his neck, kissing him passionately.

Daniel caught her up in his arms, holding her tightly as he kissed back without hesitation. Her soft, moist lips were like water to a man dying of thirst. He drank deeply, kissing her fervently, meeting her tongue with his. He hugged her to him, his body still trembling from the terror that had seized upon him just moments before.

His breath came in quick gasps as he moaned weakly into her mouth, the wetness of her kiss soothing his troubled heart. As much as her lips comforted him, it wasn't enough. He broke the kiss and looked at her. "Vala," he breathed, but then faltered.

She half opened her eyes to look back at him, her brilliantly blue eyes staring at him hotly. With a worried expression, he opened his mouth again. Before he could say a word, Vala whispered as she reached up and caressed his cheek, "I love you, Daniel."

That was all he needed. He closed his eyes as she touched him, leaning into her hand. She smiled blissfully as she watched him, stroking his cheek lovingly. Leaning in to touch her lips to his, she closed her eyes, repeating herself with a passionate whisper, "I love you." Her lips brushed against his as she spoke, her breath hot on his face.

Daniel leaned in the rest of the way to kiss her. She met his lips eagerly, his tongue at once invading her mouth. She greeted him warmly with hers, wrestling with his tongue as they both started to moan huskily into each other's mouths.

His strong arms wrapped about her more tightly, pressing her body to his. Vala started to squirm as he rubbed her back, sucking in her breath as his hands quickly found their way beneath her sweater. She moaned against his lips as she felt his hands caress her bare skin, and to her surprise she began trembling at the sensation. Running her fingers through his short hair, she sucked on his tongue eagerly, lifting her one leg to the level of his hip to grind her crotch against his hardness.

Before she knew what was happening, he was pulling at her sweater, peeling it off of her. She smiled from ear to ear as she broke the kiss, allowing him to remove the garment. A happy sigh escaped her lips as she felt the fabric gliding across her skin, happy in the knowledge it was his hands to remove it.

As Daniel removed the sweater, his heart started racing even faster than before. He drew in a deep breath as he saw her naked breasts beneath, marveling at the sight of her. Vala smiled at him as the sweater came away, reaching out to touch his face tenderly as his hands quickly wrapped themselves around her luscious orbs. He watched as she closed her eyes at his touch, then grasped her firmly, rubbing and squeezing.

Vala drew in a deep breath, moaning softly as she felt his thumbs rubbing her nipples, playing with her erect nubs. Starting to open her eyes, she was just in time to see him lean down, taking one in his mouth. A shiver ran through her body as she felt his wet mouth close around her tender flesh, and she wrapped her arms about his head, hugging her to him.

"Daniel," she breathed hotly as he licked and sucked on her, his hands still roaming freely over her breasts, her chest, and her arms. Her breath came more quickly as she felt his wet mouth massaging her bosom. She played with his hair, starting to slip into a dream like state. A heady feeling came over Daniel as he played with her breasts, his tongue rubbing her firmly. He couldn't have been happier.

The archaeologist soon switched, licking her other nipple and then taking it into his mouth. He lavished it with the same attention he'd given the first, hungrily sucking on her while his hand squeezed her firm orbs. He looked up at her from his vantage point, smiling against her flesh as he saw her dreamy expression.

Suddenly Vala's blood started to pump faster, and she reached down to touch his crotch. He moaned against her breast as she wrapped her fingers around his erect length, squeezing and rubbing him through his pants. A wide smile came across her lips as she caressed him, reveling in the moans each stroke of her hand drew from him, sighing happily as he seemed to suck harder and faster on her as she touched him.

The feel of her fingers around his length sent shivers over Daniel's body. He moaned once more against her flesh, his hands and lips hungrily caressing her as she stroked him. His breath came faster, his heart pounding in his ears in anticipation.

The raven-haired woman quickly grew tired of standing, and started to walk backwards, pulling him with her by grabbing his belt as she moved. The motion jarred Daniel away from her breasts, and he made a small yelp as she pulled him forward. Their eyes met and he grinned at the lusty, wanton look he saw on her face.

In just a few steps, she backed into the couch. Before sitting, she wordlessly helped him remove his jacket, then pulled his top off. Her smile grew even more as she saw his muscled frame, her hands immediately moving to caress every inch of his bare torso.

Daniel smiled as she leaned in, watching as she kissed him all over his chest. He shivered as she licked each nipple, then his eyes flew wide open as she started to undo his belt.

He grabbed her wrists firmly, pulling her hands away. "Oh no," he said, grinning wryly at the furious look she gave him. He pushed her down the rest of the way onto the couch, climbing on top of her.

"Not yet," he whispered as he leaned in and kissed her passionately, firmly holding her wrists above her head. Vala instinctively spread her legs wide for him as he lay atop of her. Without thinking, he pressed his crotch against hers, grinding his hips against hers, rubbing the length of his still hidden erection against her crotch.

Vala moaned throatily into his kiss, still fighting to free her wrists from his hands. "Damn you," she whispered hotly as he broke the kiss, moving to lavish her cheeks, her neck and her shoulders with wet, warm kisses. She watched him through half shut eyes as his lips and tongue caressed every inch of her flesh, quickly making her tingle all over.

He soon released her wrists, grinning as her hands weakly stayed in place at first, then moved to caress his bare back as his kisses again trailed down to her breasts. Daniel revelled in the feeling of her soft skin beneath his fingers, at the taste of her on his lips. He once more lavished her nipples and every bit of her curved porcelain flesh with his hot kisses, causing her to moan and squirm in frustration beneath him.

Suddenly she felt his hands move down from her chest, gliding over her taught belly, at last reaching her belt. In no time at all he undid her belt and her jeans, pulling the denim over her hips and down her long legs. Vala breathed deeply as she realized he hand hooked her panties in his thumbs as he pulled. She opened her eyes to grin at him as he trailed his kisses further south, following the progress of her pants off her body as he tugged at them. She kicked off her fuzzy slippers, allowing him to remove the last of her clothing, leaving her naked on the couch before him.

Daniel sat up for a moment, staring at her nude body. Almost immediately, his hands touched her again, roaming all over her, starting from her legs, up and over her hips, caressing her tummy, then back down again. He leaned in, starting to place soft kisses on her legs, moving slowly upward at a torturous pace towards her hips.

She watched him with a hot gaze, starting to moan and squirm in frustration as he made his way so slowly towards where she wanted him to kiss her. He stared at her intently as he went, their eyes locking together. Her breath came more quickly the closer he got, and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

"Daniel," she moaned in frustration. She would swear that as he got closer, he moved more slowly. Quietly she resolved to get her revenge, but in the meanwhile she began to stroke his back, grabbing his shoulders to try and pull him up faster.

Finally, he relieved her of her frustration by suddenly grabbing her knees, spreading her legs wide, and lunging forward to bury his face in her crotch. Vala cried out in sweet surprise, closing her eyes as she felt his lips and tongue caress her soft folds. She arched her back as she felt him part her lips and stroke her wet sex. Daniel smiled against her, watching her with a heated gaze as he kissed and licked her. He savored the taste of her, hungrily lapping at her flesh

Her breath started to come faster as she felt him settle in, kissing and licking at her skin. She opened her eyes to find him staring up at her with an incredible intensity. The motion of his tongue on her skin sent waves of pleasure coursing through her body. She moaned loudly, wrapping her fingers up in his hair as he coaxed her along. His breath was hot on her flesh, his eyes burning into hers as he caressed her in her most tender of places. She started to feel warm all over, and all she could see were his two eyes, staring up at her from below her waist.

Suddenly Vala felt him do something different, and a urgent sensation started to build up within her. "Oh Daniel," she whispered hotly, throwing her head back and gasping, arching her back as the motion of his tongue on her flesh started going more quickly. She tried to tilt her head back down to look at him, but that delicious thing he kept doing made it impossible. Her breath came faster and faster as she felt his soft lips press against her and his tongue move so sensuously upon her skin. She could hear her blood racing in her ears as she felt the pressure building up inside of her. Grabbing his head firmly, she pressed him to her.

Suddenly she cried out in ecstasy, her body seeming to erupt at his touch. She moaned at the top of her lungs, arching her back all the more as his tongue relentlessly continued to drive her over the edge. Finally, she pushed him away, unable to bear it any longer.

Gasping for breath, as her body quivered, she suddenly yearned for his nearness, reaching out for him. Before she knew it, he had climbed atop of her, pressing his lips to hers. She kissed him weakly, smiling as she tasted herself upon his lips and tongue. Her arms wrapped about his neck, moaning as she felt his body rest atop of hers. Then she realized that he was completely naked. She moaned hotly as she felt his length slide against her slick, wet sex.

"Not fair," she pouted against his lips between kisses. "After all that you don't even let me take your pants off?" He grinned against her lips, his tongue lazily mingling with hers as their lips played tag.

"You can do that next time," he breathed huskily, his words making her draw in a deep breath and wrap her arms about his neck, pulling him all the way down as she kissed him passionately.

Her arms roamed his bare, broad back as they kissed, her fingers feeling his firm muscles. Both of them rocked their hips against one another, teasing each other with what was now so close, but not yet here. Daniel groaned huskily into her mouth as the feel of her wetness against his hard length nearly drove him to insanity. He started to try and wiggle his way in, only for her to push him away with her hands and feet.

"Not yet," she said with a mischievous smile, keeping him at arms length. He sighed in absolute frustration, glaring at her. She only smirked, managing to keep him at bay while watching him with an amused gaze.

He opened his mouth to protest, but then she raised an eyebrow at him. A sigh escaped his lips as he realized he couldn't really argue with her on this one.

Vala smiled at him, standing up. Daniel watched her as he stayed kneeling before the couch, where she had left him. As she rose, she took his hand in hers, then led him over to the bed. The archaeologist watched her naked body intently as she walked ahead of him, breathing deeply as he marveled at the sight of her.

Reaching the bed, Vala turned back to face him. She placed her hands on his arms, turning and moving him so his back was to the bed. With a smile, she then pushed him back, watching with laughter in her eyes as he fell onto the soft mattress.

Almost immediately she climbed atop of him, straddling him and pressing her naked body against his. She leaned in to kiss him passionately, while rubbing her still wet sex against his length. Daniel moaned hotly against her lips, wrapping his arms about her and rubbing his hands over her bare back. She continued to rock her hips against his, her slippery flesh caressing his hardness, causing him to moan more and more hungrily into her lips.

Finally she broke the kiss, trailing down his body with a string of wet, hot kisses that made him shiver. He glanced down to see her bright blue smiling eyes staring up at him as she went. His breath came more and more quickly as she got closer to his manhood, his heart starting to pound in his ears. She watched his face with a wide grin, not bothering at all to hide her delight as his torture.

As she got closer and closer, she started to caress his skin around his crotch, teasing him mercilessly. Daniel watched her helplessly, his eyes pleading. She smiled up at him, her finger tracing the very outline of the base of his protrusion. He swallowed hard, whispering, "please, Vala..."

His concession was instantly rewarded by her hand wrapping around him even as she leaned down to take him in her mouth. Daniel dropped his head back on the bed as he felt the soft, wet touch of her lips and tongue against him, reaching down to run his fingers through her hair as she licked and sucked on him hotly.

For quite some time, she kissed and caressed him, her lips and tongue lavishing him with sweet affection. She paced and planned her actions very carefully, mindful of not getting him too excited, always keeping him just on the fringes of the slippery slope she needed to keep him from just yet.

As she caressed him so sensuously, the archaeologist lay in absolute bliss, his mind and heart filled with nothing but thoughts of this amazing woman. His breath came in heavy gasps as he continued to play with her long, jet-black hair. Now and again he looked down at her, smiling as their eyes met, watching as she pleasured him.

Finally, Vala released her hold on him and crawled back up to place a warm, wet, sensuous kiss upon his lips. Daniel wrapped his arms about her as she did, his tongue entwining with hers before their lips even met. As she positioned her hips above his, she pressed her wet flesh against his hardness, which was now slick from her efforts. She was greeted with a loud moan as he ground his hips against hers, his hands grasping her bottom and squeezing.

Then she sat up, tossing her long hair back. She looked down at him with a wide smile, continuing to rock her hips against his, rubbing his length with her soft, wet flesh. Daniel rubbed her thighs and her hips, staring up at her naked body with a hot, hungry gaze. At last she lifted herself up, reached down, guided him inside of her and then lowered herself onto him in one smooth motion.

The man gasped as he felt her envelop him, staring up into her deep blue eyes with a passionate gaze. He marveled at the sight of her naked body atop of his, moaning as he felt her take in every bit of him until their hips met. She stayed motionless for only a moment, closing her eyes as she savored the feel of him within her. Then she started to move up and down on him, her thighs carrying her back and forth over his length.

Daniel started to breath heavily as she rocked upon him, grasping her hips firmly as she moved. At first her motions were slow and deliberate, but soon she started moving faster, forcing her to lean forward, placing her hands upon his chest. Vala opened her eyes again, staring down at him with an intense gaze.

He met her eyes with his own, his breathing coming faster as she continued to move up and down on him with ever increasing speed. As she glided over his length, he started to move his hips in rhythm with hers, thrusting up as she came down. His eyes devoured the sight of her as she moved, her breasts pressed together, her slim body rocking atop of his, taking him into her again and again. Vala glanced down as well, watching for a time then lifted her head to smile at him, staring deeply into his eyes.

He couldn't take it anymore. Without warning, he rolled the woman over on her back, staying inside of her and starting to pump hard with his hips. Vala cried out at this, then started to moan loudly as she felt him thrust deep inside of her. She closed her eyes, arching her back as she moved her hips with his, grinding against him with every stroke.

Daniel moaned and grunted as he plunged deep into her repeatedly, pounding against her with a passionate intensity. She cried out as he spread her legs wide, driving harder and faster still. The man's breath came fast and hard as he went, he thought he heard himself calling out her name but he couldn't tell. He felt her hands caressing his arms and his back, felt her legs wrap around his waist as he drove into her, heard her voice screaming out his name repeatedly. The feel of her was too much, he found himself unable to resist the building intensity within him.

He cried out her name as he tightened, suddenly feeling the release. Still he tried to keep thrusting, but soon he was barely able to move, all of his energy draining out of him. Vala's arms wrapped tightly about him, drawing him to her. He collapsed atop of her, his sweaty body rubbing warmly against hers. Both breathed raggedly, their heavy gasps for air the only sounds in the still room. Daniel buried his face in her neck, trembling in her arms.

After some time, he felt one of her arms pull away. She moved beneath him, doing something, but he couldn't tell what.

"Come on," she said.

He lifted his head to see that she'd pulled back the sheets and blanket. With a tired groan, he lifted himself off of her, allowing her to crawl up to the top of the bed. It took considerable effort, but he managed to follow behind her, collapsing on his back, just barely landing in the area she'd created.

With tired eyes he looked up at her as she smiled from ear to ear at him, slipping under the covers with him and throwing the blanket over them both. She quickly moved to curl up into his arms. They both smiled from ear to ear, their lips coming together in a sweet, sensuous kiss.

The two ended the kiss, staring at one another in silence. Vala reached up and started to stroke his cheek, smiling tenderly at him.

"Daniel," she began softly, looking into his eyes as she spoke, "I know you've been scared since you told me how you feel...and I remember the reasons you told me that you were scared of how you felt for me..."

The man looked up at her, listening intently, his arms wrapped tightly about her lithe body. His dark eyes watched her closely, studying her face as she spoke.

"I want you to know you don't have to worry," she said in the softest of whispers. "I'm not going anywhere..." He drew in a deep breath as she spoke, staring deeply into her blue eyes. "I want to stay with you forever, Daniel. Being with you feels like home..."

He smiled from ear to ear at her words, reaching up to caress her cheek lovingly. "You have no idea how happy that makes me, Vala," he said with a husky voice, his emotions creeping out. "I want the same thing, there's nothing I've wanted more..." She smiled widely at his words, leaning in to kiss him passionately. He met her lips with his, kissing her just as deeply.

"I love you, Vala," Daniel finally against her lips, hugging her tightly.

"I love you too, Daniel," Vala answered, still kissing him sweetly.

Accidental Revelations, chapter 3

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:45:26 GMT

here's the piece i wrote for the oven's christmas exchange.

Thanks much to LC and Kelly for being my betas. Much appreciated, ladies. :D

Please be warned, this chapter has some minor NC-17 content!

Accidental Revelations

Chapter 3

Daniel and Vala walked slowly together through the hallway containing the guest quarters that SG1 had been given for the night. The archaeologist had to use both the wall and Vala for support, his arm wrapped about her shoulder. Her one arm was wrapped about his waist as she guided him forward, her other hand holding his arm wrapped about her shoulders. As they moved forward, she watched him with a concerned brow.

"I'm sorry, Vala," he said yet again in a heavily slurred voice. The raven-haired woman had lost count of just how many times he had apologized to her.

"It's okay, Daniel," she answered simply, just like she had every time before. At first she had felt bad for him, but now she was just sick of hearing it. She was both confused and frustrated by what had passed between them tonight. While she wasn't feeling nearly as drunk as he, she could still feel the effects of Zelenka's rebottled fruit drink. At this point, she just wanted to get him into bed and get back to her own room. They could sort out the details tomorrow.

Finally they arrived at his room. She opened his door, then half dragged him through after it silently opened. The door shut behind them with a whisper as she continued to pull him along. She noticed that his footing was getting worse with each step.

She guided them through the main room to the bedroom as quickly as she could. There were a few lights on in the first room, and almost none in the other, except for a small nightlight.

The came up to stand by the bed, and she considered how she was going to do this. At the last second, she remembered to remove his glasses. As she peeled the frames off his face, his glassy stare became more focused as he watched her hand, turning to look at her with a crooked smile.

"Thanks," he said with a slurred voice. She couldn't help but grin at him, her smirk growing as she suddenly and unceremoniously pushed him into the bed. The man landed heavily with a groan. He didn't move, but then issued forth another moan that at least let her know that he was still alive.

Sighing heavily, she shook her head and went about removing his boots, dropping them to the floor, letting each landing where it may. She then rolled him over with a grunt. She stood up and watched, finding that the man was already half asleep. A small grin flitted across her face as she watched his peaceful expression, studying his handsome features silently for a moment. Then she leaned down, unzipped his jacket, pulled it off each arm in turn and tossed it unthinkingly onto the floor.

Standing up straight in a quick motion, she paused, feeling a little lightheaded herself. It suddenly occurred to her that neither of them had eaten anything tonight. No wonder the alcohol had such an effect on them both. As she got her balance, she looked at Daniel with consideration. She almost called it done, but then figured he'd sleep more comfortably if she took off his pants.

A crooked grin came across her face as she considered the idea that turnabout was fair play. She then quickly changed her mind, however. She wanted to be able to truthfully tell Daniel tomorrow that she resisted the temptation that he couldn't resist. Granted, the circumstances were considerably different, but she wouldn't let minor details rob her of a wonderful way to tease the man.

Instead, she merely unbuckled and unzipped his pants, removing them in a quick motion, while leaving his boxers untouched. As she dropped this next article of clothing to the floor, she paused as she looked his now scantily clothed body, half tempted yet again to take advantage as he had, so long ago.

Shaking her head, she restored her resolve with another grin and set about tucking him into bed. She was half tempted to just leave him there as he lay, but his knees were on the edge of the bed. He didn't look at all comfortable. She already knew he was going to be in serious pain tomorrow when he woke up, the last thing he needed was any additional discomfort from sleeping in a weird position.

Sighing heavily, she pulled back the covers on one side of the bed, then set about dragging and rolling him over to that side. Daniel grumbled and moaned as she pushed him about like an oversized sack of potatoes, but offered little assistance to her. She pursed her lips in frustration as she worked on heaving and rolling him from one end of the bed to another, muttering under her breath.

At one point, she found it necessary to climb atop of him on the bed to get him moved past the halfway mark, to the side where she had pulled back the covers. Suddenly his arms wrapped about her and he pulled her to him, rolling her onto her back. She yelped in surprise, but her voice was muffled as he suddenly leaned in, pressing his lips to hers in a rough, but passionate kiss.

At first she started to fight back, trying to push him off of her, but her resistance quickly melted away as his tongue pushed its way past her lips and she felt his weight pressing her into the mattress. In spite of how drunk he still was, his kiss caused her blood started to suddenly race as she felt his nearly naked body pressing against hers. His one hand quickly moved to cover her breast as it had before, rubbing and squeezing through her clothing even as his lips and tongue assaulted her.

His tongue found hers, caressing her sweetly and tenderly as he moaned against her mouth. Any hope she had at controlling herself went flying out the window as she suddenly felt his hand that had been upon her breast slip beneath her jacket and top, touching her bare torso. She breathed more heavily into the kiss as she felt his hand upon her bare breast, caressing her flesh and rubbing her nipple beneath her clothing.

Before she knew what was happening, she was kicking off her boots, hearing them hit the floor with a pair of dull thuds. She wormed her way more completely beneath him, spreading her legs and pushing him to lay atop of her, although in truth he needed no prompting. A husky moan escaped her lips into his mouth as she felt his hardness pressing against her crotch. She wrapped her legs about his waist, pulling him against her. He ground his hardness against her sex, rocking his hips and rubbing back and forth.

Suddenly she realized that he was unzipping her jacket. She wasted no time in helping him remove it, peeling the annoying clothing from her body to cast it to the floor. The whole time they kept kissing hotly, pressing their lips together firmly as their tongues wrestled with each other. She relished in the feel of their nearly naked bodies pressed together, deciding quickly that her pants needed to go.

Undoing the buckle, she suddenly found assistance from Daniel as he undid her zipper and helped her peel the garment from her hips and legs. Vala quickly kicked them away, faintly hearing them land on the floor. As soon as her pants were gone, Daniel settled in to press his hard erection against her crotch again, now with only their thin undergarments between them.

Vala moaned loudly as she felt him press against against her, sucking on his tongue all the more as she wrapped her arms about his neck. She bucked her hips against his, rubbing her now wet sex firmly against his, fabric of their undergarments adding to the friction.

Without warning Vala rolled Daniel over on his back, sitting up on his hips. She smiled down at him as she pulled off her clingy undergarment, revealing her naked breasts to him. He smiled up at her with a dreamy, glazed expression, sitting up and taking one of her dark nipples into his mouth, sucking on her firmly.

"Oh God, Daniel," she breathed, closing her eyes as she felt his wet mouth envelop her nipple. She wrapped her arms about his head, hugging her to him as she suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of emotions. Still straddling him, she ground her pelvis against his, moaning heavily as she sucked on his ear.

Daniel soon moved to suck on her other breast, his tongue rubbing her firmly as she continued to grind her crotch against his bulging erection. She heard his breath coming as fast as hers, she could feel his pulse racing beneath her fingertips.

Suddenly Daniel flipped her over on her back again, rolling a top of her, but then stopped moving. Vala blinked in surprise at this, asking hesitantly, "Daniel?"

She was greeted only with a throaty snore, his head resting limply next to hers.

A frustration deeper than she'd ever known washed over Vala. Gritting her teeth and pursing her lips, she pushed the man off of her, starting to get out of bed in a huff.

As she worked on disentangling herself from him, he grabbed her arm. She was about to shrug him off when she heard him say in a sleepy voice, "Don't go..."

The woman paused at this, frowning and furrowing her brow as she looked back at him. She saw him looking up at her plaintively with half-closed eyes. The man clearly struggling to stay conscious. "Please, stay," he pleaded, more quietly than last time, his hand losing its grip even as he spoke, starting to fall down the length of her arm.

Vala's expression fell as she heard his feeble cry to her. She hesitated for a moment, then took his hand upon her arm with her other hand. Crawling back into bed with him, she pulled the covers over them as she draped his arm over her shoulder. Wrapping her arms about him under the covers, she snuggled up to him. The whole time, she watched his passive visage intently.

When her body made contact with his, she felt his arms wrap tightly about her. She watched as a serene, peaceful smile bloomed upon his lips.

Snuggling close to him, she pressed her lips to his, breathing in his scent deeply. She felt his lips move ever so slightly against hers. Then she knew he was completely out.

She lay silently in his arms, studying his face in the dim light from the adjoining room. A turbulent sea of emotions and conflicting feelings washed over her, ranging from frustration and bitter resentment to pure joy and love.

In the end, she snuggled up closer to him still, closing her eyes as she finally drifted off to sleep.

A bright light shone on Daniel's closed eyes, causing him great pain. No, that wasn't right, it was his skin that was hurting. He drew in a deep breath, and learned he was wrong again, it was his chest that hurt. He tried to move, then quickly gave up, finding he was wrong yet again.

Everything hurt, he realized.

What hurt especially was the sickening lump he felt in his belly. It made him feel queasy and ill. It suddenly occurred to him that he might feel better if he were to go and throw up, but then the thought of that made the lump in his stomach angry and Daniel quickly gave up the idea.

He moved ever so slightly, and realized that the bed he was laying in was soft and silky. It would have been incredibly comfortable, if only he wasn't dying.

That explained it, he decided. He had been poisoned. While he couldn't yet remember the mission they had been on, he figured it must have been one for the books if it had lead to him laying dying in a comfortable bed with a beautiful woman .

Wait...a beautiful woman?

Suddenly his eyes flew open in shock. Right away, he shut his eyes again as the bright sunlight flooded in, burning the backs of his corneas. He started to moan in his misery, but then fell silent as even that caused him more pain.

He lay motionless for a few minutes, waiting to see if his body would feel better of its own accord. As he lay there, he realized that he was indeed entwined with a woman. While he couldn't move to investigate or even look, he could feel the softness of her skin pressed against his, the warmth of her body against his. He soon realized that she wasn't wearing much at all, he could feel the curve of her naked breasts against him and soon realized that at best, she was only wearing a pair of panties.

Daniel breathed in deeply, the sweet and enticing smell of the woman's perfume filling his nostrils. Surprisingly, it made him smile, tickling his memory at the same time. Then he knew, his eyes flying open in shock.

It was Vala.

Again, the sunlight punished him for daring to open his eyes and he shut them, wincing in pain.

As he closed his eyes he suddenly felt a little panicked. How did he ever end up with her like this? He desperately tried to remember what had happened, but found his mind a murky collection of images from the night before.

He breathed in deeply to try and calm himself, hoping that relaxing would help his memory. Again his nose was tickled by her perfume and the very scent of herself. To his surprise, the fragrance started to readily tease out memories of when they were in the corner together last night. While the words they spoke lost on him right now, he did remember kissing her passionately.

Beyond that, only fragments came back to him, bits and pieces all jumbled up and out of order. Everything seemed hazy. In his mind's eye, his memories of last night were like looking through smudged glasses. He remembered when they were at the party and tidbits of their conversation together in the dark corner. He vaguely recalled the trip down the hall, but things started to get much hazier after that.

His mind started drifting, he couldn't keep concentrating. The effort to remember made him feel worse, the memories bringing with them the feeling of being completely drunk. The queasiness in his gut got a lot worse at that.

He sighed heavily in his discomfort, trying desperately to put the memories out of his head in order to settle his stomach. Then Vala moaned softly and started to move against him. The feeling of her flesh rubbing against his sent him reeling, bringing back a flood of memories from just before he passed out. In spite of the pain he was still feeling, as well as the shock from waking up with her almost naked, Daniel could not deny the pleasure he felt from both her touch and the memories of being so intimate with her last night.

In fact, as he lay with her, his body still in absolute pain, he suddenly realized that the touch of her skin made him feel better. In fact, her nearness was one of the only things that felt good right about now.

He furrowed his brow as he tried to understand it. Still unable to remember much of what happened last night, he had absolutely no idea how they ended up like this. Although, he did seem to recall asking her back to his room, which seemed strange to him.

"Daniel?" he heard Vala ask in a soft, tender voice.

The man slowly opened his eyes, hoping that if he took his time, the sun wouldn't punish him. At first, the bright rays were blinding, but then suddenly he was in the shade. He opened his eyes wider to find that Vala had sat up enough to block the light. The direct sunlight behind her made it somewhat difficult to see the details of her face, but as he opened his eyes completely he could easily read her expression.

He had never seen such abject fear in her eyes before.

A tender smile came unbidden to his lips as he looked up at her, while in the back of his mind he tried to understand what worried her so. She smiled weakly in return, hesitating, unsure of what to say. This confused him even more, as he figured she would be gloating for having bedded him.

"I have to imagine you're hurting right now," she finally said, swallowing hard.

He closed his eyes as her words reminded him of the pain he felt all over his body. "Oh, you have no idea," he said weakly.

She chuckled slightly, causing him to look up at her again. "Actually, I do," she said with a smile, though her eyes still had the same haunted look in them. "A few years before I met you I got as drunk as I'll ever get in this life. I was on some planet making a deal and made the mistake of trying their local drink." Her smile turned slightly crooked as she recounted the tale. "I woke up a day later..." she suddenly paused, stopping herself from continuing. The look on her face grew into one of extreme discomfort and embarrassment, the fear spreading from her eyes once more.

Daniel furrowed his brow at her, confused. "Well, let's just say it took me a few days to recover," she said weakly.

Closing his eyes at her words, he answered feebly, "Oh, don't tell me that..."

Vala said nothing to that. Making use of the quiet, Daniel drew a few deep breaths, trying to muster up the strength to move. He considered that if he could actually get up and move around, maybe eat something, he might feel better.

As soon as he contemplated food, however, the lump in his stomach became even angrier than before. He quickly dismissed the idea, sighing in pain.

"Daniel, I'm sorry," Vala suddenly said in an urgent but despondent voice.

With considerable effort, he opened his eyes to look at her in amazement. The last thing he expected was an apology. He furrowed his brow, not sure what to say.

Seeing his expression and being greeted with nothing but silence, she continued in a panicky voice, speaking faster and faster as she went, "I just wanted was help you relax and enjoy yourself last night, I had no idea you were going to get drunk so fast, I..."

"Vala," he said, interrupting her as a strange sense of deja vu came over him. She stopped talking as soon as he spoke, watching him intently with deep blue eyes that were still haunted by fear. As Daniel stared up into her gaze, it suddenly all came rushing back to him. The party, their conversation afterward, and his doomed attempt to make love to her in this very bed.

He winced at the surge of memories, closing his eyes as he tried to process it all. The feelings from the intimacy they had shared flooded his mind, mingling with the words they had said to each other when they had found themselves alone before leaving the party. He reeled at the knowledge of how much he shared with her, more than he'd even really admitted to himself before last night. He furrowed his brow at the intensity of it all, frowning as he felt overwhelmed.

Suddenly Vala started to move, sitting up and pulling away from him. His eyes snapped open and he saw her turning away from him.

"Wait!" he said urgently, sitting up without a thought and grabbing her arm. Instantly he regretted it as the pain shot through his body anew. He winced, grunting in anguish. Vala paused, turning to look back at him with a shocked stare, her breath coming more heavily.

He held her arm firmly yet tenderly. His heart pounded in his chest, and a cold fear swept over him as she hesitated. Swallowing hard, he looked deeply into her eyes, feelings and memories swirling around tumultuously inside of him.

"Don't go," he said quietly without thinking. She pursed her lips at his words, her resolve to leave clearly weakening. "Please stay," he asked even more quietly, staring into her eyes with a pleading gaze.

To his utter amazement, her eyes began to water at his words. She sat there, in the bed with him, clutching the sheet over her naked chest, staring at him with wide, terrified eyes. He had never seen her so vulnerable or frightened before. His heart ached at the sight, and before he realized what he was doing, his hand on her arm started to pull her to him.

"Come here," he said in a soft whisper, looking into her eyes without blinking. She hesitated at first, swallowing hard as she stared back at him intensely. "Please," he said softly in a pleading voice, still pulling gently at her arm, reaching his other arm out to tentatively touch her side.

The raven-haired beauty looked down for a moment, her hair falling to partly covering her face. When she looked back up at him, she asked with a convicting stare, her voice trembling, "Did you mean what you said last night?"

A chill wave of fear ran through him at her question, but he answered without hesitation. "Yes," he said in a clear, definitive voice. He nonetheless clenched his jaw, feeling the same nervousness from last night. While he was no where near ready to have said those things to her, he knew he couldn't unsay them now. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, especially when she was so completely defenseless before him.

Vala swallowed heavily at the simple word, closing her eyes as the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. She hesitated, and Daniel gently tugged on her arm again. Wordlessly she started to crawl back to him. Without a second thought, the archaeologist wrapped her up in his arms, making a soft shushing sound as she started to weep. Vala clung to him as she pressed herself against his body, burying her face in the crook of his neck as the sobs wracked her body.

After a while Vala settled down, drawing in deep breaths as Daniel held her tightly in his arms. The archaeologist kissed her cheek tenderly as he embraced her, rubbing her bare back with his one hand. She snuggled up even closer to him, heaving a trembling sigh as she held onto him tightly. His arms tightened about her even more, and he again pressed his lips against her cheek lovingly.

She turned her head at this, quickly and eagerly finding his lips with hers. With an urgent hunger she kissed him, eliciting a soft groan from the man as she slipped her tongue past his lips. Vala felt an incredible sense of relief as she felt his tongue meeting hers, caressing her tenderly.

Still feeling fragile inside, she kissed him with a growing need, moaning softly into his mouth as her kiss grew more passionate and hungry. To her delight, the kiss went on and on, the man showing no signs of wanting to stop. Beneath the covers, Vala melted into Daniel's embrace as he squeezed her in his arms, their nearly naked bodies pressed tightly together.

She smiled within the kiss as they shifted and she suddenly felt his erection pressing against her thigh. Without a second thought, she reached down to caress his length through his boxers. He moaned loudly against her mouth, and she squeezed him firmly, her heart racing at his reaction. She fully intended on slipping her hand inside his undergarment when suddenly she felt his strong hand grab her wrist and pull her hand away.

Breaking the kiss, she stared at him with furious eyes, feeling the same frustration she had felt last night. "Daniel," she started, her voice laced with anger, only to fall silent when he interrupted, rebuking her with a single word.

"Hangover," he said flatly, staring at her with bloodshot eyes.

"Oh...right," she said forlornly, suddenly feeling foolish. "Sorry," she whispered, looking at him apologetically. Within a few moments he grinned wryly at her, shaking his head slightly.

The two stared at each other in silence for some time, each lost in their own thoughts. Vala was admittedly still nervous, but comforted by the fact that he still held her just as tightly in his arms. Daniel, by contrast, was feeling very confused and very conflicted. In his heart this felt right, but he was still reeling from the way it came to be.

"So you're still not feeling well?" she finally asked somewhat rhetorically as she started to grow uncomfortable at the extended silence.

He closed his eyes at her question, sighing heavily. "I think I'd be happy to curl up and die right about now," he said with a raspy voice, sinking into the pillows as he relaxed, giving his tired body the much needed rest after the pain he'd felt from hugging her so tightly.

"Oh no you don't," she said flippantly, "You're not taking the easy way out of this..."

Daniel opened up his eyes at her words to look at her with an incredulous expression. Vala smiled brilliantly, watching as he failed miserably in his attempt to keep a straight face. Within moments the two were both laughing and smiling happily together.

The archaeologist's laughter was short-lived, however, as he was soon wincing in pain. "Dammit, even laughing hurts," he sighed.

Vala watched him with a sympathetic eye, leaning in closer as she caressed his cheek. "I wish I could do something to help," she said gently, placing a soft kiss on his lips.

He opened his eyes, looking into her brilliantly blue gaze with a warm smile. "What, you don't know some secret concoction to cure a hangover?" She shook her head with a smile. He said with a grin, "and here I thought you had street smarts, Vala"

The raven-haired woman raised her eyebrow, regarding him with a disbelieving eye. "Watch it, darling," she said with a dangerous undertone to her voice, "or you'll find out just how street smart I am..."

Daniel smiled from ear to ear at her, pulling her closer again. She resisted at first as she grinned coyly at him, but only for a moment before leaning forward into his arms, pressing her lips to his lovingly. The two kissed tenderly for a while, until Vala pulled away to look into his eyes once more.

The archaeologist regarded her with a thoughtful expression. She looked back with a questioning gaze, and he said, "So how is it you're not hung over? I can't believe you drank less than me..."

Vala smirked at his question, pausing before she answered him. "Daniel," she answered with an amused, but warm voice, "I drank exactly as much as you did, probably a bit more."

The archaeologist furrowed his brow at her answer, closing his eyes with a sigh. "That fits," he said wearily. When he opened his eyes, he found her looking back at him, confused.

He answered her unsaid question, "Jack, Sam, and the rest always told me I couldn't hold my liquor."

Vala smirked, trying desperately to hold it in as she watched him with an adoring gaze. Then she started to laugh. Daniel sighed heavily, in spite of the pain the action brought him.

"That's an understatement," the raven-haired woman said with an amused voice. Daniel grinned wryly at her with an irritated expression. Her smile blossomed all the more at his reaction. Stroking his cheek, she told him with an affectionate voice, "Daniel, I've never seen anyone get so drunk so fast. I can' believe you're this hung over from what we drank last night."

"Well, I warned you that alcohol and I don't get along," he said with an amused voice, smiling warmly at her. His words caused the smile to vanish from her face, however, to be replaced with a guilty expression.

He leaned closer to her, reaching out to touch her cheek. "Hey," he said softly, "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to give you a hard time about that, it was my choice to drink in the end..."

She half smiled at him, covering her hand with his. "It's okay, Daniel," she said. Closing her eyes, she turned her face to kiss his palm while squeezing his hand in hers. Looking back at him, she said tenderly, "I know its going to seem like a painful idea, but we should get out of bed. You'll feel better sooner if you get up and move around. Most importantly, you need to get some water in you...a lot of it..."

Daniel swallowed bitterly, pursing his lips at the idea and closing his eyes. She was absolutely right, his body and especially that lump in his belly hated the idea. He sighed from the tips of his toes, opening his eyes to watch her with a regretful expression. Still, he reasoned to himself, if anyone knew how to get him through his hangover, it was going to be Vala.

He knew he was safe with her.

Looking up into her eyes, he saw her regard him with a worried expression. Once again, he realized how nervous and scared she still was, in spite of his attempt to encourage her of his sincerity. He smiled warmly at her, nodding. "I'm in your hands, Vala," he said simply, then tried to sit up, but failed to make it very far.

The raven-haired woman smiled at his words, and she immediately sat up, helping him to do the same. She sighed heavily as she watched him wince in pain and just get his bearings in a sitting position. This was going to take some time, she realized.

Helping Daniel get out of bed and ready for the day did indeed take a while. Vala was incredibly patient with him, helping him at every step of the way. When it came time for his shower, he expected her to offer to assist him directly, and was surprised when she didn't. He had to admit to himself, in fact, that he was a little disappointed.

Still, he could tell she was trying to be respectful of his privacy, in spite of all that they had shared in just under twelve hours. He was glad for that because in truth, while the thought of sharing a shower with her was suddenly very enticing to him, he didn't think he was truly ready for that just yet.

Every step of the way, Vala kept insisting that he drink a lot of water. It seemed that every time he turned around she was shoving another glass in his hand. He drank as much as he could, and as the minutes turned into hours, he could tell that the fluid was making a difference.

Their conversation was light and sparse, which suited Daniel just fine. He could tell his silence left her still worried and nervous, but between his hangover and the effort he was making to process last night and this morning, he needed the quiet time. Whenever he found the chance, however, he took the opportunity to reassure her by holding her hand, smiling at her, looking deeply into her eyes, or even kissing her for a brief moment.

As much as he was confused and perhaps a little regretful of what had happened between them, he could see now she would be crushed if his feelings were anything but what he professed to her last night. He knew with a rapidly growing certainty that what he confessed to her was in fact how he felt for her, but the knowledge of that was still so fresh that he was having difficulty reconciling it all.

He had never thought himself one to be so in denial, especially about himself.

After a few hours in his guest quarters, Vala declared that Daniel needed to eat something. He looked at her like she was crazy, but she insisted on it. While he had drank as much water as she pushed at him, she told him that he would need food to keep his recovery going.

With a sigh, he resigned himself to the effort.

As they left his quarters, Daniel took her hand in his. She looked over at him in surprise, smiling warmly at him, a smile he returned. The two left silently, keeping a slow pace that the archaeologist felt comfortable with.

When they arrived at the cafeteria, Daniel was surprised as some of the looks he received from people he had never even met before. The raven-haired woman beside him happened to glance over, seeing his confused expression.

"You put on quite the show last night, Daniel," she said quietly, a faint smile playing upon her lips.

The archaeologist looked back at her with a surprised expression, his mouth hanging a bit slack. "I don't think I want to know anymore," he said weakly as they made their way to the breakfast bar.

Vala grinned to herself. Respecting his wishes, she said nothing more on the topic.

Without saying much, the two went and got their breakfast. Daniel nearly lost the will to live when he saw the spread, the sight off all the food making him want to throw up. He simply took a couple of slices of dry toast, then walked off to find a place to sit. Vala soon sat across from him, placing her tray down as she took her chair. The archaeologist furrowed his brow as he saw she too had only dry toast.

"I thought you didn't have a hangover," Daniel asked as he tried to muster the will to eat any of his food.

Vala smiled at him sweetly, answering, "I don't." When he looked confused, she answered simply, "I know that even looking at food is enough to make you ill right now, so I didn't want to sit down with a plate full of something that would make you miserable."

Daniel smiled warmly at her, his eyes showing his appreciation. "Thanks," he said simply, watching her with a warm gaze.

She nodded, beginning to pick at her toast, eating only a few bits and pieces. They said nothing more, each lost in their own thoughts as they stared at their food.

"Daniel," she said suddenly, causing him to lift his gaze. He immediately furrowed his brow, feeling incredibly distressed by her despondent expression. Their eyes met, and she stared wordlessly at him for briefly. Pursing her lips, she dropped her gaze, unable to look at him further. Suddenly he had a very bad feeling about what she was going to say.

"Daniel, I'm going to leave you be for a while, now," she said quietly, staring at her plate.

"What?" he said, asking further, "Vala, why...?"

"Daniel," she said, interrupting him, "it's clear to me you're not at all comfortable with what's happened." She lifted her head to stare at him with a piercing gaze, her brilliantly blue eyes hard and resolute. She said nothing more, but her silence dared him to refute her.

He wrestled with himself, trying desperately to convince himself that she was wrong, trying desperately to say anything. With a sigh, he hung his head, unable to speak. She closed her eyes, nodding.

She started to get up when he reached out, grabbing her wrist. Their eyes met, and he said with a pleading voice, "Vala, I meant everything I said about how I feel for you..."

"I know," she said gently, a faint smile crossing her lips. "But you're not happy about it yet, you're not ready for it yet." His hand fell away from hers as he stared at her, amazed by what she was saying and stunned that she was so right. "Maybe you will be, someday, but until then..." she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, "well, until then, there's no point in pretending."

With that, she wordlessly left, her plate of food sitting untouched. Daniel watched forlornly as she left, an empty feeling starting to grow inside of him.

Accidental Revelations, chapter 2

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:42:24 GMT

Here's the next chapter of the piece I wrote for the oven's christmas exchange.

Thanks much to LC and Kelly for being my betas. Much appreciated, ladies. :D

Please be warned, this story will have NC-17 content in Chapters 3 and 4!

Accidental Revelations

Chapter 2

The evening flowed more smoothly after their visit to the bar. As with their first trip through the crowd, Vala's natural charisma took on a life of its own as they made their way around the room. Everyone they talked to seemed to enjoy her conversation. Daniel was continually amazed at how they left every group of people laughing and smiling.

To his surprise, Daniel found that Vala made a very serious effort to include him in every conversation that she wormed her way into. Somehow she managed to get him talking along with her, usually by bringing up various topics that that he had great interest in. It was readily clear to him that she in fact had little interest in the subjects she raised to involve him. Yet, she still managed to contribute and crack jokes. Before he knew it, she had him laughing along with everyone else.

Of course, he realized it helped her cause that they were mingling with one of the largest concentrations of Earth's most brilliant scientists and scholars between two galaxies. She couldn't have found a more sympathetic audience to topics that he found interesting. It also occurred to Daniel that this same audience was particularly susceptible to her charm, especially the men. However, he suspected she'd also have no problem making friends and bringing out people's smiles and laughter in any crowd.

In all, she completely amazed him with all that she was doing for him.

As the evening wore on, Daniel found himself truly relaxing. He didn't know how she did it, but in some mysterious way she managed to start to unravel the layers of tension and stress that he never even realized had been wound up so tightly about him. He soon forgot about the crowd, forgot about his anxiety, and found himself only listening to the musical sound of her voice and watching those brilliant blue eyes.

As Vala was leading him through the room yet again, the archaeologist lifted his glass to his lips to find that it was surprisingly empty. When did he drink all that champagne, he wondered?

Suddenly Daniel realized that Vala had maneuvered him back to the buffet table. He blinked in amazement as she withdrew her hand from his and took the empty glass from him. She paused, and he looked at her with a questioning brow.

"Would you like another? she asked with a raised eyebrow, holding their two empty glasses in her hands.

Daniel paused at the question, half surprised that she wasn't just shoving another full glass in his hand and half amazed that he had almost said yes without a second thought. His mouth hung open in the unsaid 'yes' as he watched her in wonderment, finding her amused smile rather infectious all of a sudden.

In the back of his mind was a small, yet persistent voice that was screaming at him to refuse any further alcohol for the evening. That same voice had been so very loud at the beginning of the night, protesting everything that was happening to him. As the night wore on, however, he found that the voice was getting weaker and more distant.

The scholarly man suddenly felt very tired of listening to that voice. It had badgered him for years and years, and he was suddenly sick of it. All he wanted was one night of enjoyment without the persistent tension that voice brought. Besides, he reasoned, Vala was putting so much effort into helping him enjoy the party, probably at the expense of her own fun. He idly wondered why, but couldn't think of a reason.

"Well?" she asked with an entertained voice, still smiling widely at him.

He met her gaze, closing his mouth while watching her quietly. "Sure," he finally said, finding happiness in the crooked lilt her smile took upon his answer. Without another word, the raven-haired woman put down their classes, filling them up again. She then picked both up and offered one to him. A wide smile came across his lips as he took it from her, their fingers touching briefly.

"So are you enjoying yourself now, Daniel?" she asked in a quiet voice, looking deeply into his eyes.

He looked down for a moment as a chagrined expression came across his face. When he lifted his eyes back to hers, he saw the mirth in her gaze and a bemused smirk across her lips. She already knew the answer, of course.

"Yes," he answered just as quietly, a strong feeling of gratitude coming over him. He couldn't help but grin along with her, feeling a little abashed for all the grief he had given her at the start of their evening.

"Good," she said softly, raising her glass, tapping it lightly against the one he held in his hand. Their glasses rang musically upon contact.

"To even more fun yet to come," she said gently as she stared deeply into his eyes. The archaeologist found himself even more amazed as he smiled from ear to ear at her words. He raised his glass to his lips as she did the same, the two watching each other intently as they sipped their drinks.

As the liquid hit his lips, Daniel realized they were drinking something different. It was still fruity tasting and bubbly, but had a decidedly bitter element to it. As he finished a sip and pulled the glass away, he suddenly found himself more than a little lightheaded, the noise and the heat from the crowd doing nothing to help him. He closed his eyes as he regained his balance, then opened them again to see blue eyes staring at him with concern.

"Daniel, are you alright?" she asked with a worried voice.

"I'm fine," he quickly answered, shaking his head. He smiled widely at her. "Actually, I've never been better," he paused, then impulsively added, "or happier, Vala." He gazed back into her eyes at the last, staring at her intently. "Thank you," he said softly.

Vala blinked in surprise at his words, looking like she was caught off guard for once. Now it was Daniel's turn to smirk,enjoying the look on her face as she regained her footing. "Come on," he said warmly. "Don't we have more mingling to do?"

Immediately, a wide smile crossed her ruby-red lips as she stared up at him. To his surprise, his hand found hers and he entwined their fingers together as he took hold of her. He couldn't help but note the deep breath she drew at his touch. She stared at him in silence with a heated gaze, and he suddenly realized that there was very little distance between them anymore. He drew in a deep breath of his own, smelling the sweetness of her perfume and her own scent. Their eyes met, and he found his heart pounding in his ears.

Suddenly a loud popping sound from behind them made them both jump. They looked behind them to see Dr. Zelenka holding a newly-opened bottle.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," he said quickly as he saw their dark glances. "I just noticed that all of the open bottles were empty and I figured I should open up a few more, I didn't even see that the two of you were standing there..."

The two smiled weakly, but were clearly still a little annoyed. Suddenly Daniel noticed that the bottle he had in his hand was like the one that Vala had just poured from. After a moment, his slightly hazy mind realized that both were different bottles than the first one that they had drank from.

"What is that?" he asked Zelenka, furrowing his brow.

"What, this?" the doctor asked, holding up the bottle. He smiled from ear to ear, saying proudly, "It's a sparkling drink from my homeland in the Czech Republic. It's made by my uncle, actually." He paused and saw that Daniel and Vala were listening to him with interest. Realizing he had an audience, he continued, casting a glance at McKay as the other scientist wandered over to join them.

"You see, it's really just Fernet Stock with the tonic water already added." The three looked at him with confused expressions. "Oh, right, you wouldn't know what that is," he said with a grin. "Fernet Stock is a drink native to my homeland. People often drink it with tonic water, and my uncle - he's quite the businessman, you see - he had the idea to take Fernet Stock and just add the tonic water, selling it like that." The three exchanged unimpressed glances.

"It's turned out to be a rather popular party drink in Prague," Zelenka added hastily, seeing their reactions.

"Huh," Mckay spoke up, answering with an acid tone, "So your uncle's brilliant business plan was to take two different drinks other people made and mix them together?" As he spoke he looked off into space then rolled his eyes at the other doctor, looking at him with a disdainful stare.

"Well, uhm," he paused as Daniel and Vala looked from McKay to him. "Yes," he answered simply, looking chagrined.

"Well, isn't that wonderful," McKay said with a deeply sarcastic voice. "I'm just SO glad that we ran out of champagne, otherwise we'd have never gotten the chance to experience your uncle's rebottled fruit juice."

Daniel and Vala shared amused glances with each other, then looked to Zelenka with sympathy.

"Well," Vala said, "I think it's a wonderful drink, doctor."

"Absolutely," Daniel agreed with a smile.

The man lit up at their words, smiling back. "Well thank you," he said. The two raised their glasses at him, then made their way back into the room, casting a sideways glance at Rodney as they left. The man didn't even notice.

As they wandered off, McKay looked at one of the unopened bottles on the table pensively. "Hrm," he said, hefting the bottle to read the label. "You said your uncle used Fernet Stock, didn't you?" he asked absentmindedly.

"Yes," Zelenka answered with an irritated voice.

"That's about fourty percent alcohol, isn't it?" McKay asked.

The other chuckled, answering wearily, "Yes, Rodney. My uncle's rebottled fruit drink packs quite a punch."

Rodney turned to grin at Zelenka. "Well, I may have been a little hasty in my judgment." He set down the bottle and picked up an empty glass. "Hit me, doctor!" he said exuberantly, holding the glass between them.

Zelenka raised an eyebrow at McKay, pausing before he filled up the empty glass with the newly opened bottle he still had in his hand. "Don't tempt me," the man answered.

She had to admit it to herself, Vala decided as they walked away from the banquet table. This was the best night she'd had in a long time. Not only was she able to get Daniel all to herself tonight, but she actually had gotten him to relax and enjoy himself. Even better, he seemed to be genuinely appreciative of her and her efforts. There was only one thing might have made the evening better. Sadly, the first opportunity for that had just been ruined.

Although she had little doubt that the good doctor had truly been unaware of their presence when he popped the cork on that bottle, she nonetheless could have killed him for interrupting.

It amazed her that Daniel seemed ready to kiss her. Her heart raced at the memory of his nearness, and the anticipation of what must have been only seconds away.

She sighed deeply. As frustrated as she was, she still held out hope. With any luck, there would yet be other opportunities tonight.

They made their way through the party, continuing as they had before their last pit-stop to refill their glasses. As they talked with the various members of the Atlantis expedition, she started to become amazed at just how relaxed Daniel was becoming. Though she always knew he was wound a little too tightly, she had no idea it was this much. More and more, he was laughing and smiling. The man was becoming positively giddy.

As the evening wore on, however, she started to realize that he was going well past just being relaxed. It took her longer than normal to recognize the symptoms, simply because she couldn't have fathomed it from such a small amount of drink.

The more they wandered about and talked with others, Vala found herself regretting that she'd given the archaeologist his second glass. It had become readily apparent to her that he was quickly becoming quite drunk. He laughed too early and too loudly at jokes, and he was starting to babble. Sometimes he was simply incoherent.

It boggled her mind that so little alcohol could have such an effect on the man. Granted, even she found that Dr. Zelenka's uncle's drink was a bit heavy-duty, but she would have figured he was still a few drinks away from what she was seeing now. Worse yet, she watched the level in his glass drop much more quickly than his glass of champagne had, his behavior worsening with each swig he took.

While they made their rounds through the room again, she started to wonder how she could take his glass from him. She had already asked him if she could hold it for him, but he had told her no, answering that he would rather her other hand be free to hold his. As sweet as the words were, and in spite of the blush those words brought to her cheeks, they only confirmed to her that she had let him have too much tonight.

The final straw came while they were talking to yet another random group of people. Daniel took yet another pull on his drink. Vala winced as she watched him, trying to figure out what to do, only to watch him start to tip backwards as he tossed his head back, losing his balance. She grabbed his arm roughly, jerking him forward while she tried to keep from flinging her own glass at the people near her.

The archaeologist was able to regain his footing, but only barely.

"Alright, that's it," she said firmly, drawing an irritated gaze from the man. "You're done," she said simply, pulling him away from the group with her hand still tightly gripping his arm. As they left the group, she could see out of the corner of her eye their amazed expressions at the display.

"But Vala," he complained, half whining. She whipped her head around, silencing him with a bitter stare that cut right into him. The man swallowed and wordlessly followed, stumbling as he went, his sense of balance clearly deteriorating.

Vala lead Daniel out of the crowd, holding his arm to steady his faltering footsteps. As they went, her anger started to abate as she quickly remembered that he was only drunk because she pressured him to start drinking in the first place. Soon she was kicking herself for allowing him to get this drunk. The evening had been so wonderful, he had seemed so happy, only for everything to now take a complete nose dive in the space of just a few minutes.

She had never seen anyone get drunk so fast on so little alcohol.

They approached the banquet table and she wordlessly removed the glass from his hand, depositing it and hers as they passed. She resumed her hold of Daniel's arm and now grasped his hand too as she continued to guide him, watching with a worried expression. A tumultuous mixture of guilt, disappointment, and even shame washed over her for bringing him to this. All she wanted to do was give him a night of fun. Now she had probably given him a night he would quickly come to regret. That thought pained her more than anything else right now.

"I need to sit down," he said unsteadily with a sluggish voice, snapping her out of her self-pity. As he spoke, he blanched and looked as if he was trying to keep from being sick.

"Okay," she said simply with a concerned voice, quickly guiding him to one of the countless chairs that had been pushed to the side of the cafeteria to allow for tonight's party. With infinite care and patience, she guided him to the nearest, helping him to seat himself without incident. It was considerably darker where they were, at the edge of the cafe. The archaeologist stared off into space, looking queasy. She pursed her lips as she looked at him, her feelings of guilt growing even more.

A thought suddenly occurred to her. She glanced over her shoulder to the banquet table they had just passed. A small smile crossed her lips as she saw what she had been looking for, a large and mostly untouched pitcher of ice water, along with several empty glasses.

She turned back to look at him. "I'll be right back," she said quietly, squeezing his hand in hers, letting it go as she turned to leave.

Daniel looked up suddenly with a panicked expression on his face, grabbing her arm urgently. "I'm sorry," he said quickly and urgently, looking greatly concerned at her words.

Vala stopped and turned back to him, furrowing her brow in confusion, at a total loss. She hesitated for a moment. "Daniel, whatever do you have to be sorry for?" she asked, confounded.

He swallowed, looking up into her eyes with a remorseful expression. His gaze fell downwards."I ruined your evening," he answered brokenly, a heavy sigh wracking his body.

Her dark eyebrows knotted together as she listened to him in amazement. She sat down in a chair next to him. "Daniel," she said softly, waiting for him to look at her. When he didn't, she reached out and caressed his cheek, gently turning his head towards her. After a brief moment of hesitation, he lifted his eyes to look at her. She swallowed painfully as he stared at her with remorseful eyes.

"Daniel, you didn't ruin my evening," she told him with a tender voice, gently stroking his cheek as she watched him intently. He continued to stare at her with the same expression, disbelief in his eyes at her words.

"Yes I did, Vala," he said shakily, "I saw the way you lit up when we walked in the room." She blinked in surprise at his words, furrowing her eyebrows as she listened to him. "You love parties. This is probably the first one you've been to in a long time. Instead of going off to have your own fun, you dragged me along to try and cheer me up." He paused, tilting his head downwards, unable to keep eye contact with her. Pursing his lips, he said, "Then what do I do? I go and get stinking drunk, I completely embarrass you..."

"Shush, Daniel," she interrupted him with a firm voice, gently pressing her finger to his lips. She paused, then slid her hand over his cheek and back down to cup his chin, lifting his face to hers again.

It took a moment, but Daniel finally lifted his eyes to hers. Vala looked into his gaze when he did, her eyebrows coming together as she saw fear in his eyes. The raven-haired woman's heart melted at this, her own emotions painted clearly on her face. The archaeologist furrowed his brow as he saw, looking somewhat confused.

She moved closer to him, gently caressing his cheek as she did. "Darling, how could you possibly think that I wasn't happy being with you tonight?"

He faltered at this, opening his mouth but then hesitating. After a moment he answered, "come on, Vala. I'm rotten at parties. You're in your element here. You and I both know you'd have had more fun on your own."

"You think I'd have rather come here alone tonight than with you?" she asked quietly, raising an eyebrow. A smile blossomed upon her lips as she shook her head, saying gently, "Not a chance, Daniel."

The man's eyebrows knotted together at her words, his expression one of complete surprise. Her smile only grew at his reaction. She continued to stroke his cheek. "Drunk or not," she said warmly, "There's no one I'd rather be with tonight than you." A grin flitted across her lips as she added playfully. "That includes myself."

Daniel's eyes brightened at her words, the last vestiges of guilt seeming to leave his face. He looked at her with warm eyes, his lips turning up in a small smile.

Neither said another word, they simply stared at each other. Suddenly she realized how close they were. Her heart started to pound in her chest as she felt his nearness, as she felt the heat of his body so close to hers. His breath was warm upon her neck and face.

The two of them both leaned in the rest of the way, their lips meeting together, brushing against one another. Her eyes fell shut as she kissed him tenderly, sighing happily as she felt his lips caressing hers in return. She stroked his cheek tenderly, then wrapped her arm about his neck as she firmly pressed her lips against his. Her tongue glided over his lips and she drew in a deep breath when he suddenly parted them, entwining his tongue with hers.

A delightful shiver ran through her as she felt his tongue caressing her while he moaned huskily against her mouth. Strong arms wrapped about her waist, pulling her even closer to him. Vala wrapped her other arm about his neck as she kissed him more fervently, her heart racing.

A warm feeling washed over Vala as she felt the tender caress of his lips and his tongue against hers. She settled into his strong embrace happily, melting against his body. The sounds of the party dimmed in her ears as she lost all sense of where she was or how much time was passing. It amazed her that Daniel was actually kissing her. While she had wanted this for so long, but she didn't ever really believe that he did, too.

She brimmed over with happiness as she felt the tender stroking of his tongue upon hers and the seductive caress of his lips against hers. Her breath came more heavily as she kissed him back passionately and held onto him tightly, running her fingers through his hair.

Then her happiness started to dissolve when in the back of her mind she remembered that he was completely drunk right now. Almost instantly a cold fear started to creep into her heart as she began to wonder if this was what he truly wanted or if tomorrow he would be distant again, possibly even more so because of what was happening between them right now.

As much as she wanted nothing more than to keep kissing him, the grip of her worry made her pull away, although she kept her face near his. She opened her eyes to look at him with a heated stare, studying his face intently, watching his reaction.

Daniel paused at first, his eyes still closed, his breath coming as heavy as hers. His lids slowly opened and their eyes meet. He stared at her with an impassioned look on his face, saying nothing for a time.

"Is something wrong?" he asked slowly in a hushed voice, his eyebrows furrowing in concern as a worried expression started to creep over his face.

She swallowed bitterly, not sure what to say to him. Nervousness washed over her as she tried desperately to find the right way to ask him about what worried her so. Unable to think of anything, she decided to just be direct, saying, "Daniel, there's nothing I want more than to keep kissing you..." She paused, almost losing the resolve to continue as she saw the smile that crossed his lips at her words. She pursed her lips and then forced herself to speak, watching him intently as she did.

"But you said it yourself, you're completely drunk right now," she blurted out, her nervousness spilling into her voice as she spoke. His smile faded as he watched her, listening intently. She looked down, unable to continue looking into his eyes as she again forced herself onwards, talking more and more quickly as she went, "As much as I want this to be real, I don't want you to do something you're going to regret tomorrow, I don't want to risk the chance that someday this might be real, I..."

"Vala," he said quietly, interrupting her. She instantly fell silent at the sound of his voice, looking up to him with panic filled eyes. He pursed his lips and reached up, gently touching her cheek. Vala hesitated for a moment and then closed her eyes, leaning into his hand. He caressed her lovingly, staring at her in silence as she made the softest of noises.

His eyes were full of her as he tried to figure out what to say. The fear he had seen in her face had left him speechless. In spite of the alcohol-induced haze that clouded his mind like a heavy fog, he knew one thing clearly. He'd never felt anything with such certainty as what he felt for her now.

Before he knew it, he said, "Vala, drunk or not, this is how I really feel for you." Those simple words made her eyes fly open, her wide and hopeful gaze looking deeply into his. He swallowed heavily as he stared back, realizing there was no going back now. Suddenly he began to feel incredibly nervous, an intense queasiness forming in his gut that had nothing to do with what he had drunk but was nonetheless made worse because of it.

He glanced down, saying further, "I know it doesn't really seem that way most of the time..." He paused, lifting his gaze back to find her looking at him with a convicting stare and a raised eyebrow. "Okay, he said quickly, closing his eyes as he corrected himself "most of the time I couldn't seem less interested in you." He opened his eyes to see her smirking slightly, watching him with an amused gaze, though one still strangely laced with a mixture of irritation and fear.

"But you need to understand, Vala," he said plaintively, "Most of the time, I'm afraid." Her expression changed to one of confusion at his words. For his part, Daniel simply couldn't believe he was saying these things to her. Nonetheless, the words just kept pouring out from heart and past his lips before he could stop himself. At this point, he wasn't sure he wanted to stop, anyway. His head felt like it was full of cotton and the world seemed like it was lagging behind him. He couldn't think straight, and he felt a little ill to his stomach.

In all, he felt rotten. The only thing that felt good right now was what he was saying to the raven-haired beauty sitting next to him.

"What are you afraid of?" she asked hesitantly, her eyes regarding him with a mixture warm concern for him and fear of what he was going to say.

He paused, staring back into her eyes. He felt even more nervous than before, the knot in the pit of his stomach getting worse with each passing second he was silent. "I'm afraid that you're not serious," he said finally, blurting the words out in a hurry, "afraid that you're not going to want a real relationship with me." She furrowed her brow as she listened to him, watching him with incredulous eyes.

"Vala, most of the time I've known you, I've been the butt of jokes you make or I get caught up in some scam that you're trying to pull." At his words, an expression of guilt instantly came across her face. She looked down, unable to keep eye contact with him.

Reaching up with his other hand, he cupped her face, leaning in even closer. She looked up at him with deeply emotional eyes, her fear and remorse set firmly within her gaze. He sighed, saying further, "Yet in spite of that, I've come to feel so strongly for you, to care so much for you that it absolutely scares me to death." He almost said more but then stopped suddenly, biting back the words that would otherwise have just flowed off the tip of his tongue so easily. In spite of being this drunk, he just wasn't ready to say those words. Not yet.

The raven-haired woman swallowed heavily as she listened to him, tears forming in her eyes. He continued, his voice becoming more and more passionate with each word. "Vala, it's hard to express in words how much I want you, how much I want to be with you...but I'm afraid of getting hurt, afraid that what you want isn't the same thing that I want."

He grew silent then, watching her intently. His heart was pounding heavily in his chest, the adrenaline racing like never before. In spite of how drunk he felt, he had a strange lucidity from the fear that now gripped him with an icy hand. Vala stared back into his eyes, searching his gaze as she contemplated his words. She then closed her eyes, leaning her head forward to touch her forehead to his.

"I'm sorry, Daniel," she whispered with a broken voice, a trembling sigh wracking her body as she shook her head slightly, adding, "I didn't know..."

The sound of her all but weeping pierced his heart. With his hands still upon her cheeks, he lifted her chin slightly and closed the small amount of distance between their lips. He kissed her passionately and deeply, his tongue immediately pushing its way into her mouth. She moaned weakly against him, immediately meeting his tongue with hers. She reached up to caress his face as the tears started to roll down her cheeks.

As Daniel felt the wetness reach his hands upon her face, he kissed her all the more fervently. The warmth he had felt from all the alcohol seemed to heat up into an inferno inside of him as he assaulted her mouth with his tongue and roughly caressed her lips with his. Vala quickly kissed back just as eagerly, hungrily sucking on his tongue while pressing her body against his. Her arms slid down from his neck to rub his chest and then wrapped about him, squeezing him tightly. The archaeologist felt a tight pang in his gut, and he suddenly couldn't get enough of her. He needed more.

"Let's get out of here, Vala," he said hotly between kisses. "I want you...I need you..." As he spoke, one of his hands left her face and roamed down her body, caressing the curve of her breast. She drew in a surprised breath within their kiss as he touched her, instinctively pressing her body against his hand.

The raven-haired woman broke the kiss, pressing her forehead against his again. Both of them were breathing heavily, still pressing themselves to each other, gripping one another tightly. "Come back to my room, Vala," Daniel said hotly, stealing a quick kiss, then breaking away again. They both opened their eyes, staring at each other intently.

Looking deeply into his eyes, she then closed hers once more and drew in a deep breath as she felt his hand still resting upon her breast squeeze firmly. She had never wanted anything so much before in her life. Swallowing heavily, she took his hands in hers, asking in a weak and unconvincing voice, "are you sure you want this, Daniel? Are you going to be happy tomorrow morning?" Opening her eyes again, she stared back at him hotly.

"I've never been so certain of anything in my life," he answered plainly, staring back with the same intensity.

"Okay," she half whispered, unmoving. Nodding, she said again, as if convincing herself, "okay." With that she squeezed his hands firmly, smiled at him, and stood.

Daniel rushed to stand with her and made it halfway up, but then suddenly lost his footing and landed back in his chair with a jarring sound. A look of shock crossed his face as he struck the chair, the man was obviously quite surprised and confused at what happened, looking about with a stunned expression. Then he blanched, looking ill.

A frown crossed Vala's face as the incident served to ground her once more. As much as her blood still raced from the feel of his touch, from the heat of his body against hers, as much as all she wanted was to take him somewhere they could be alone so she could make passionate love to him, she suddenly remembered just how drunk he was. She sighed from the tips of her toes as she watched him still trying to regain his bearings, resigning herself to the fact that all she could really expect to do was take him back to his room and tuck him into bed.

With any luck, what he was asking of her would come another night in the not too distant future.

Accidental Revelations, chapter 1

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:36:02 GMT

Here's the piece I wrote for The Oven's Christmas Exchange.

Thanks much to LC and Kelly for being my betas. Much appreciated, ladies. :D

Please be warned, this story will have NC-17 content in Chapters 3 and 4!

Accidental Revelations

Chapter 1

The bright Lantian moon shone down on the dark waters surrounding the sprawling city, its light sparkling upon the still surface. The spiraling towers that rose up from the surface shone forth with their own twinkling lights, pushing back the darkness of the pitch-black sky. Near the top of one of the tallest spires was a sprawling balcony, jutting out from the minaret to look out over the vast city below.

Daniel Jackson stood upon the balcony, along with Vala Mal Duran, the two leaning upon the surrounding railing. They looked in silence at the vast metropolis and the dark waters below.

"She did what she believed was right, Daniel," the raven-haired woman said fervently, suddenly breaking the quiet. "How badly can she be punished for that?"

The archaeologist didn't answer right away, pursing his lips as his worried expression became even more intense. "I don't know," he answered simply and sincerely.

Trying to cheer him up, Vala replied lightly, "Maybe she'll just get a slap on the wrist. Or be forced to write 'I will not interfere in the affairs of humans again' ten thousand times."

The man's mood did not improve. "Yeah, I doubt that," he said with a dour tone. She sighed, regarding him with a mixture of frustration and sympathy.

"She said you had your answer," Vala pointed out. "We found out the two addresses we came here for. Can you at least smile about that?" she asked her question with a hopeful voice.

"I suppose," Daniel answered begrudgingly. "But we did find out something else, too."

"What?" She asked with a curious voice.

"They're not going to help us," he said simply. "We're in this alone."

Vala frowned slightly, staring into his eyes as he spoke. The two looked at each other in silence, the weight of his words heavy between them.

Then Daniel looked back out at the darkness before them. Vala did the same, pondering his words. While she was admittedly concerned by the ominous portent of what he said, she was much more worried by how dour the man was becoming.

Glancing back over at him, she watched silently as he gazed out into the waters below, a dark expression upon his face. It pained her to see him suffer like this. Setting her jaw, she determined that she was not going to let him just languish. No, she was going to brighten his evening and make him put aside his fear and doubt.

She just wasn't sure how, quite yet.

Suddenly a soft whirring came from behind them. Both glanced over their shoulders to find the door to the tower opening. Samantha walked out to join them on the deck. "Hello," she said with a smile.

"Hey," Daniel answered, with a glad voice. "When'd you guys get back?" Vala glanced at Daniel irritably. She found herself just a touch annoyed that he seemed to brighten at Sam's arrival, while her efforts to cheer him up had no affect on him. Nonetheless, the raven-haired woman looked away from the archaeologist to smile warmly at Carter. She was also glad to see the other woman back.

"Not too long ago," the blonde-haired woman answered. "Emerson beamed us to the Gateroom about half an hour ago." She paused, looking at Daniel and Vala standing together, then smiled warmly at the sight of the two standing together by the railing.

Daniel furrowed his brow at Sam's expression, watching her silently for a moment. "What?" he asked with a confused voice.

"Nothing," Sam answered quickly, flicking the briefest of glances at Vala. The raven haired woman had been also confused by her smile, but then realized what was so amusing as she caught Sam's look. Vala looked over at Daniel furtively, then back at Sam to return the smile with a mischievous one of her own.

Daniel looked over at Vala just in time to completely miss the entire exchange. He watched her with a furrowed brow, confused by the two women. Vala looked back over at Daniel, smiling widely at him. The two stared at each other silently for a short while, Daniel looking confused while Vala just smiled sweetly at him.

"So," Sam said, causing them both to look back at her. "There's a little celebration party just starting in the cafeteria, I wanted to see if you two wanted to come and join us."

Vala brightened at Sam's words, there was no way she was going to say no to a party. She opened her mouth to answer, when Daniel replied first. "No thanks, Sam," he said. "I don't feel like celebrating, really."

The Colonel furrowed her brow at this as Vala turned her head to regard him with an annoyed expression. "What's wrong?" Carter asked, looking confused.

Before Daniel could get a word in edgewise, Vala crossed her arms and looked back at the other woman, quickly answering with a bitterly sarcastic tone, "Oh, he's just upset that he got the information he came here for."

Sam blinked in confusion at Vala's answer, watching the two with a still bewildered expression. Very quickly, she started to smile with a faint twist of bemusement as she watched Daniel's reaction to Vala's words. The archaeologist looked away from Sam to glare at the other woman, crossing his arms. "Dammit Vala, you know that's not why I'm upset."

Sighing, Vala uncrossed her arms, putting her fists on her hips as she looked back over at him with a piercing stare, half turning to face him. "Yes, Daniel, I know. You're upset about what happened to her. The thing is, she made her choice. She knew what the risks were, and she decided to do the right thing anyway. Just like I've heard you chose to do when you were ascended." The archaeologist pursed his lips at her rebuke, looking somewhat abashed at her point. Vala stared at him intently, silently daring him to argue with her.

Sam furrowed her brow. She was hesitant to jump in, but was totally lost. "I'm sorry, who are you talking about?" she asked politely.

The two looked away from each other back to Sam. Daniel sighed, answering, "An ascended Ancient known as Morgan Le Fay helped us. Like Oma, she was skirting the line by helping us. She gave us the two planets we were looking for." He paused, then continued with a troubled voice, "I pushed her for more, urging her to get directly involved. She started to by trying to tell us something, but then they intervened and made her disappear."

"It was her choice," Vala reiterated, staring at him intently. Daniel looked back at her bitterly.

"Oh," Sam answered, a little taken aback by the story. She paused for a moment, taking it in. "Morgan Le Fay, like in Camelot?" she asked with a furrowed brow.

Daniel looked back at her, answering, "The same."

"But you got what you came here for?" Sam asked.

Vala was about to answer, but Daniel saw her open her mouth and beat her to it. "Yes," he said wearily, exchanging irritated glances with the raven-haired woman. "We got the names and gate addresses of two planets, one of which probably houses Merlin's weapon."

There was a brief silence before Carter spoke again. "Well, I think I agree with Vala." The archaeologist looked from the woman next to him to Sam with an incredulous expression. Vala looked over at her with an exultant smile.

Trying hard not to smile at their reactions, the Colonel continued, "Morgan knew what the consequences could be and she made her choice. It's tragic what probably happened to her, as well as the fact that the ascended Ancients aren't going to help us." Daniel sighed, watching Carter with a tense expression. "But, she gave you the information you were after...and, we blocked the Ori Supergate." She paused, watching Daniel struggle with the matter. "In all, I'd say we had a pretty good day."

"Thank you," Vala said in an exasperated tone, "That's what I've been trying to tell him." She looked back at Daniel, asking with a pleading voice, "Could you please just let it go, darling?" He looked from Sam to her, furrowing his brow with a tense expression. "Let's just be happy with what we've won today."

Daniel sighed, pursing his lips as he considered Vala's words. "Come on," she said, touching his arm, "let's go join the party. There's no need to sulk out here all night when today is the first time things have gone well for us in a long while." Sam watched on with a hopeful expression as the man wrestled with himself in silence.

"Alright, fine," he said wearily. "If it'll keep you from pestering me, I'll do it."

"Well," Vala answered indignantly, narrowing her eyes at his words. She withdrew her hand and took a step back. "Your welcome for the concern," she said with a bitter voice. With that, she turned on her heel and started walking for the door.

Daniel looked pained at her reaction, even as the words had left his lips. "Vala, wait," he said pleadingly, quickly stepping after her. He caught her arm and stopped her. She half turned to face him, looking angry. "I'm sorry," he said with a sigh. "That was totally uncalled for, you were just trying to help me."

The raven-haired woman sighed heavily at his words, regarding him with dark eyes. Pursing her lips, she looked down. "Well," she began, studying her feet intently for a moment. "I suppose you could make it up to me by taking me to the party." She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. Daniel blinked at her words, looking taken aback and confused. The raven-haired woman smiled at the sight of his reaction. She quickly added, "Then, maybe some sight-seeing around the city tomorrow..."

The archaeologist smirked, regarding her warmly. "Sure," he answered with an amused tone, cutting her off before she could add more conditions. "That sounds good."

Vala smiled from ear to ear at his words, watching him with a warm gaze. "Well then, I suppose I can forgive you, Daniel."

The archaeologist smiled all the more at her words, chuckling in spite of himself. He glanced over at Sam. "You said the party was in the cafeteria?"

Sam blinked in surprise at the sudden question in her direction. The amused smirk she had worn as she watched the two disappeared in a heartbeat, but not before they first saw it. "Oh, uhm," she started as she got her wits about her. "Yeah, I imagine it's getting into full swing by now. Doctor Weir figured her people needed the down time, so she made a city-wide announcement about twenty minutes ago."

"That'll be perfect timing, then!" Vala proclaimed brightly. Daniel looked over at her with a confused expression. She blinked at his reaction. "Well, darling, one never shows up at a party early. Better to arrive fashionably late," she said with a grin.

Daniel chuckled, then held out his arm for her, like he had when they went for a walk while inhabiting Harrid and Salis' bodies. Vala looked at the gesture with a surprised expression.

"You said you wanted me to take you to the party," he plainly answered her questioning look.

Vala smiled from ear to ear at his words, then she wrapped her arm around his. Daniel marveled at the utter look of contentment that came over her face.

"Come on, you two," Sam said with a tired grin, turning to lead them there.

When the three arrived in the cafeteria in Atlantis, they found it was bustling with activity. By his reckoning, Daniel figured that most of the expedition from Earth must have been in the room. He was suddenly very uncomfortable, instantly regretting that he had given in to Vala. The scholarly man had always preferred the quiet stillness of his studies. Dealing with this many people was something he never felt comfortable doing.

By contrast, Vala couldn't have been happier. She lit up upon entering into the room, her smile wide and her eyes bright. Daniel glanced over at her. He found that, in spite of his own turbulent emotions, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of her happiness. She was even more beautiful than usual. Maybe this wasn't a mistake after all, he decided.

Then he blinked in quiet surprise at himself as he suddenly realized he had been reflecting on the woman's beauty. Suddenly he again felt confused and nervous, discomfort sweeping over him all over again.

Vala, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to Daniel's roller coaster of emotions. She couldn't take her eyes off the celebration before them. It had been a while since she'd been to a party. Granted, she had been to bigger and rowdier events, but after everything she'd been through lately, this little shindig would suit her just fine.

"Well," Carter said, drawing their attention, "you two go have some fun. I just saw Doctor Weir over there and I've got some questions for her, so..."

"Go ahead, Sam," Vala answered, "we'll be just fine."

Sam grinned in return, exchanging a knowing look with the other woman. The two waved at each other and Sam wandered off into the crowd. As the two watched Carter vanish into the sea of people, Vala turned to looked over at the archaeologist with a wide smile plastered to her face.

"Come on, Daniel," she said eagerly. The archaeologist glanced over at her, still feeling somewhat confused and anxious. He met her gaze, and suddenly found himself unable to resist a small smile as he stared into her happy eyes. She squeezed his arm tightly. "Let's go mingle!"

Her words and actions brought a smile out of Daniel, which he was glad for since he was desperately trying to keep his discomfort from showing on his face. The woman on his arm was so happy, he didn't want to ruin it for her with his own issues and misgivings. Instead, he simply smiled faintly and answered quietly, "Okay."

The raven-haired woman brightened even more, immediately turning to rush into the room. She moved so fast she that she half dragged him along. Daniel realized that if he had in fact revealed any of his unease, she was completely oblivious to it.

The two started to wind their way through the crowd, Vala smiling and talking to random people that she'd never met before. She briefly joined various conversations, making jokes and comments here and there. Almost everyone she spoke to smiled warmly, listening to her words attentively, and laughing when she said something funny. Everyone seemed very pleased as she made their way through the room.

Daniel didn't say a word the whole time. He simply found it difficult to smile and make eye contact with people, let alone say anything. Now that they were in the thick of the party, he felt even more uncomfortable than before. Again, he began to wonder why he even agreed to this.

Before he knew it, Vala had navigated them to one of the tables on the side. The surface was covered with champagne flutes and open bottles of bubbly, as well as a few bowls of punch and rows of cups. Trays were laid out with various sweets of different shapes and sizes.

Vala withdrew her arm from his and started to pour the champagne. Daniel stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked out at the sea of people in the room. The din of the dozens of conversations seemed overwhelming to him. He pursed his lips, wondering idly if he could find a way to beg out and leave. After all, he reasoned, Vala would probably have more fun if she wasn't dragging him along behind her like a wet blanket.

He sighed heavily, frowning. Now he was worried about ruining Vala's fun with his dour mood. Daniel really couldn't remember when he'd seen her as happy as when they walked into the party. Actually, he could. It was when Landry told her that they were going to let her stay at the SGC.

Well, either way, the last thing he wanted to do was spoil her fun. Maybe he could just slip away quietly...

"Stop it, Daniel." Vala's stern voice broke him out of his reverie. He half jumped, turning to find himself looking into piercing blue eyes. Suddenly a wave of guilt washed over him.

"Stop what?" he asked a little too quickly.

With that, she held out one of two flutes of champagne for him to take. "Stop brooding over what happened today. I brought you here to relax and enjoy yourself, not so you could keep sulking."

He hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly took the glass from her. He had no intention of drinking from it, however. Alcohol and he just didn't get along, he knew that too well. "I wasn't thinking about that, Vala," he answered truthfully. She raised an eyebrow at his words, looking at him thoughtfully. Half-crossing her arms, she swirled the liquid in her own glass as she considered him with a pensive gaze.

"Then stop plotting your escape," she said finally with a grin. Her smile only grew as she watched his crest-fallen reaction.

"I dragged you here for your own good, Daniel," she explained. "You don't take enough time to unwind." She grinned as she lifted the glass to her lips. "Besides, you promised me you'd do this, to make up for being mean to me just before..."

Daniel raised an eyebrow at her words, tilting his head slightly. "Funny, I don't remember actually promising you I'd do this..."

She paused before drinking, raising an eyebrow back at him. "Are you arguing semantics with me, darling?"

The archaeologist pursed his lips at her words, looking into her eyes with a frustrated glare. Vala merely looked back at him with a triumphant gaze as she paused, her glass near her lips. He sighed from the tips of his toes. She had him trapped, and she knew it.

"Fine," he said with a defeated voice, watching her grin from ear to ear and then sip her champagne.

She watched his dour expression thoughtfully as she drank the bubbling liquid. Pulling the glass away, she said wryly, "Oh, you poor man. An amazingly beautiful woman wants nothing more than to drag you to a party and enjoy your company. How simply terrible for you." She smirked at him as his brows knotted together in frustration while he glared at her. "Now then, be a good boy and have some of that champagne. You need to relax."

Daniel frowned even more at her words, looking at the glass he held awkwardly in his hand like it was some kind of toxic compound. "Vala, I really don't care for alcohol..."

"Look, Daniel," she interrupted him with an exasperated voice. "You're going to relax and have fun tonight, so you might as well just get used to the idea." He looked back at her with a disbelieving stare, he couldn't believe she was talking like that to him, or that he was still standing here, listening to it. "Now, we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way..." He raised an eyebrow at her, watching her warily as she further explained, "and I guarantee you that you'll have a lot less to be embarrassed about tomorrow if you just go for the easy way..."

He sighed again, watching her quietly for a moment as he considered her words. Bright blue eyes stared back at him intently, unwaveringly. His eyes wandered to the glass in his hand. He watched the golden liquid as small, tiny bubbles slowly rolled to the surface, clinging to the walls within. He'd had champagne once before, actually. It was a long time ago, back when his paper about the pyramids as landing platforms had been accepted for publication. He couldn't remember if he liked the drink then, the memory was too overshadowed by what had followed.

Swallowing bitterly, Daniel closed his eyes and raised his glass to his lips. The drink tasted surprisingly sweet and fruity. It was light on the tongue and the bubbles tickled down his throat. He found himself smiling, he actually liked it. Then he opened his eyes and looked through the liquid and the glass to see Vala watching him with an amused smile.

His smile vanished as he pulled the glass away. Raising an eyebrow at her, he asked bitterly, "Happy now?" As he spoke, he believed he already felt a little light-headed.

A dark eyebrow lifted at his words, her smile turning crooked. "For now," she said simply, her eyes still full of amusement.

They stared at each other wordlessly for a while, she with the same amused look while he seemed somewhere between annoyed and irritated.

"Come on," she said finally with a warm and genuine smile. She reached out and took his free hand in hers. "We've got more mingling to do."

but I don't know Jack...

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:14:05 GMT

Which Stargate sg1 Character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Jack O'Neil

You are Jack! You used to be the leader of SG1 but now you have stepped back and have been put in the rank of major general.

Gen. Hank Landry

100%

Jack O'Neil

100%

Teal'c

75%

Samatha Carter

75%

Ba'al

50%

Dr. Daniel Jackson

50%

Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell

25%

Vala Mal Doran

A Stolen Moment - chapter 3

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:09:52 GMT

and, without further adieu, here's the next chapter in A Stolen Moment.

A Stolen Moment

Chapter 3

Daniel and Vala charged down the hallway, each feeling panicked and worried about what their friends were facing alone. Both felt intensely guilty with the sudden knowledge that Cam and Teal'c were in the middle of a fire-fight while they had been back at the Stargate, making out like a couple of teenagers.

As they ran, Daniel cursed himself for letting Vala entice him with their second kiss. In the back of his mind, he'd been worried that their friends might encounter trouble. Now he felt like a fool. In spite of the fact that he had kissed Vala in the first place, the circumstances of their second kiss had been decidedly different.

For her part, Vala felt simply miserable. Not only was she more nervous and uncertain than ever before about what Daniel thought of her or how he felt for her, but now she was worried that she had made matters worse by she kissing him as she had. A quick glance over to look at his face seemed to confirm her suspicions. He looked absolutely furious.

The two came running out of the hallway at full speed, their P-90s at the ready. Both were immediately relieved to see that not only were Cam and Teal'c alright, but the two of them had managed to get some kind of control over...something.

Daniel and Vala came to a sudden stop and looked around with disbelief to see a small crowd of people kneeling in the center of the large, expansive room while iron gates sealed every exit. The archaeologist asked with a panicked and confused voice, "What...the hell happened?!"

Glancing back at them for a brief moment, Mitchell answered sarcastically, "We had a little misunderstanding."

"Yeah, I can see that!" Daniel answered, looking about incredulously.

"Might have been easier to just pose as party guests," Vala deadpanned with a lifted eyebrow, her frustration at the way things ended between her and Daniel seeping through into her words.

Mitchell glanced back at her words, eyeing the two with an annoyed expression. "What the hell took you two so long?" he asked sharply.

"We, uhm," Daniel hesitated, flushing red at the question. Vala cleared her throat and looked away with an embarrassed expression, refusing to meet the Colonel's piercing stare. "We got held up," the archaeologist said weakly after failing to come up with a reasonable explanation.

"Uhuh," Cam said in annoyance, adding in an irritable voice, "Jackson, wipe the lipstick off your mouth." Teal'c glanced over at the two and glared at them, then resumed watching the hostages.

The archaeologist blushed even more at the Colonel's words and wiped his mouth with the cuff of his sleeve. Vala flushed to the tips of her ears, looking like she was ready to crawl under a rock. She chose to stay silent for once, continuing to avoid Mitchell's gaze.

Cam watched the two blushing teammates for a moment, then looked back at their captives. After surveying the hostages, he then explained, "They thought we were rebels."

Daniel raised his eyebrows at the Colonel's words, looking more worried than before. "What does that mean?" he asked with a tense voice.

"I don't know," Mitchell answered as he looked nervously around the room, trying to keep an eye on the various people they'd taken hostage. "I didn't get a chance to ask a lot of questions."

Vala looked about with a confused expression. She asked hesitantly, "Why are all the outer doors sealed off?"

Mitchell glanced back at her question. He paused, then looked over at a nearby display with shattered glass around it, gesturing towards it with his P-90 and saying, "One of their guys shot that case. He must have triggered a lock down." He paused for a moment before adding, "And for the moment, it would be good if it stayed that way."

Daniel sighed wearily, "Wonderful."

Cam looked back directly at Vala, saying, "See what you can do."

Nodding as she glanced about anxiously, she then looked back at the Colonel, meeting his stern gaze somewhat sheepishly. She still felt rather embarrassed, and she could still feel her cheeks and ears flushed red. Thankfully, the change in focus to their situation helped to alleviate the stress. "Okay," was her quick answer as she put her P-90 aside and started to walk back deeper into the large chamber, looking around for some sort of access panel.

Walking off, Vala suddenly heard a commotion behind her as one of the hostages spoke up. Slowing in her step, she glanced over her shoulder, concerned. She immediately saw that the boys had things under control, so she turned her attention away again and continued to wander through the room.

Her gaze quickly made its way to the back of the room where she caught a glimpse of what looked like an electrical box. Her pace quickened as she walked over to where it hung on the wall, removing her backpack as she drew near. With an expert eye she studied the layout of the conduits and the exterior of the box itself, depositing her backpack on the floor as she contemplated what to do.

Vala hesitated for a moment, looking over the exterior of the enclosure with a final cautious glance. She then reached out and quickly opened the front access panel. A quiet sigh escaped her as no obvious alarm or booby trap went off. While she really didn't expect any, given the apparent nature of the cabinet and the fact that this was a museum, she'd learned long ago that there could always be another surprise waiting around the corner.

With the panel open, she inspected the interior. As she had anticipated, it was a breaker box of some sort, arrayed with various switches. To her satisfaction, she also saw a small electronic control panel and what looked like a data port.

Bending down she opened her backpack, reached in and pulled out the tablet PC she carried with her. As she started to rifle through her bag for the cable she would need, her mind started to wander to the situation between her and Daniel. She really didn't want to think about that right now, but it was hard to forget about him while she kept hearing his voice off in the distance. She could hear the man speaking as he and Cam talked with the hostage that was addressing them. To her endless frustration, the sound of the archaeologist's voice kept evoking memories of the feel of his touch, the warmth of his body against hers, the taste of his lips on hers.

She gritted her teeth in frustration, trying very hard to push thoughts of him to the back of he mind, at the same time wondering why she was having such a hard time finding the cable in her backpack. It shouldn't be something so easily missed. While she hastily searched, her disbelief over the fact that he had kissed her in the first place washed over her anew. It was still astounding to her. What finally made him do that? Moreover, why did he seem to change his mind about everything five minutes later?

Sighing, her hand finally closed around what she was looking for and she stood up, trying to focus on her task. She lifted the tablet and set it down on the open panel door, using it like a small table. As she wired up the computer, her mind drifted again, this time remembering her disastrous attempt to apologize to him last night. The tension and discomfort from what she had said washed over her once more, making her cheeks flush a little. Why did she ever say so much to him? She still didn't know.

Again, she forced the matter from her mind as she tried to concentrate on the task at hand. She had just finished the delicate task of connecting the individual wires from the special adapter cable created by Sam to the alien data port. Standing up straight, she surveyed her work critically, wiggling her fingers. She wondered with a little bit of worry if powering up the PC would show her what she wanted to see or if throwing the switch would "let the magic smoke out".

Vala grinned as she remembered the first time she had heard Carter use the phrase, it was right after the blonde-haired woman had fried a particularly expensive gadget in her lab. While the raven-haired woman found the Tau'ri's word play annoying most of the time, that particular phrase had struck a chord.

Drawing in a deep breath, she pressed the power button on the computer and watched as it came to life, showing a schematic of the building. For the first time since Daniel ended their last kiss, a smile crossed Vala's lips. She immediately started to manipulate the computer, quickly navigating her way through the security program she found, looking for a way to keep things locked down.

A familiar, comfortable feeling started to settle over Vala as she went about the familiar task of wresting control away from another's effort to secure something. The feeling of accomplishment she got as she bent the system to her will helped to mute the bitter disappointment and emptiness she had felt since Daniel had pulled away from her.

It wasn't to last, however. In very little time at all, she had managed to gain complete control over the computer program that controlled the building's security. She was confident that no one from the outside would be able to open things up again, at least not without considerable effort. It wasn't surprising to her, though. Given that this was just a museum, she didn't expect to find any great challenge here.

With the job done and a void where her attention had been focused, her emotions came flooding in around her yet again, memories of Daniel's closeness and her feelings for him threatening to drown her. She drew in a deep breath and sighed heavily as she again felt the pain from the uncertainty he had left her with.

What made it worse was the awful, sickening feeling she had been carrying in the pit of her stomach since they realized that Cam and Teal'c had been in trouble while they were back at the Stargate, kissing so passionately. While she had so casually shrugged any embarrassment from being caught in their first kiss, she now felt incredibly guilty and worried about what the other two thought of her.

She was even more worried about what Daniel thought of her now.

Glancing back over, she saw him talking to the prisoner who had spoken up. She quietly observed the archaeologist from afar as he tried to tell the truth of their situation to the politician.

As she watched, Daniel's passion and earnestness while he spoke were readily apparent, even from this distance. She couldn't clearly hear him, but she saw how animated he became as he tried to convince the man that they really were from another planet. In spite of all her worries, a small grin flitted across her face as she considered the archaeologist thoughtfully. Very quickly the elderly statesman made it clear to Daniel that he didn't believe a word of it. Vala watched Daniel intently, her eyes full of adoration as she saw his crest-fallen disappointment at the other man's disbelief.

In spite of her pain, frustration, and embarrassment, she quickly found she was still so easily captivated by the archaeologist. In a way her attraction to him added to her disappointment, but at the same time helped to alleviated it, reminding her of why she still sought after him. She only hoped that someday her efforts would prove worth the pain and frustration.

Suddenly a stern, militant voice came up over the radio worn by one of the guards they'd captured. Daniel took the radio and answered, listening to the man's words.

Vala furrowed her brow at this and walked back over to rejoin the others, coming to stand beside Teal'c. The Jaffa glanced over at her arrival, nodding slightly at her, though she was too absorbed by Daniel's conversation on the radio to notice.

"Look," Daniel tried to explain to the man on the radio, "there's been a terrible misunderstanding. You see, we're not rebels."

The radio crackled as the man answered, "Then release the hostages."

Daniel let the radio drop a little and looked glanced over to Cam. " That's not a bad idea," he said, looking intrigued at the prospect.

Vala sighed inwardly at the archaeologist's naivete, regarding him fondly in spite of it. "It's a terrible idea," she said gently, shaking her head slightly.

At the sound of her voice, Daniel turned to face her, his expression the very portrait of irritation and annoyance. He slowly walked towards her, watching her with a hard gaze. "Why?" he demanded pointedly in a acrid voice, staring intently into her eyes. She could see he was still upset about what had happened.

In spite of what had passed between them before and how harshly he reacted to her now, Vala found to her own amazement that she considered him with only compassion and tenderness. She of course knew why. Seeing him try to handle this situation reminded her of why she felt so strongly for him, why she was so drawn to him.

In all her life, she had never met a man who viewed life with such idealism and hope. She knew Daniel firmly believed he could make these people believe the truth and he could smooth things over, if only he could get the chance. The man always looked for and expected the good in people.

Sadly, she knew all too well from her own life how far reality typically differed from what Daniel always wanted to see in it.

"It doesn't matter what we say to them," she explained slowly and patiently, looking back into his eyes with a tender, yet strong gaze. "They think we're rebels. We shot a security guard. We took hostages." She paused to emphasize her words. As she spoke, Mitchell slowly came to stand with the other three, watching her thoughtfully."If we let those people go, they're gonna come in here and kill us.

"The lady's making a lot of sense," Mitchell added quietly, looking at Jackson with a dispassionate gaze.

The words only served to infuriate Daniel more. "This is not how you make first contact with people!" he said sharply at the Colonel, barking out the last words in a harsh whisper, his face turning a beet red.

"Not intentionally, no," Cam answered coolly, "But all we gotta do is stall for five-and-a-half hours 'til Landry dials in." He paused, adding, "Then we bolt, and those people can believe what they wanna believe."

"And no one gets hurt," Vala chimed in again, glancing over to Teal'c as she spoke.

The Jaffa stepped closer to the rest, nodding as he answered, "I too believe that to be the best course of action."

Vala nodded along with Teal'c, murmuring softly, "Uh hmm," turning back to watch Daniel with pleading eyes.

The archaeologist looked at all three of them bitterly, his eyes burning with frustration. "Okay, do you understand how dangerous this could be?" he asked in a more quiet voice, but one laced with tension and bitterness. Vala glanced at Teal'c again, then looked back at Daniel with a reserved expression. "This is an alien culture of which we have no knowledge," he continued, building momentum as he spoke. "We don't know how they're gonna handle a situation like this. We don't know whether they're gonna wait six hours. Once we start posing as kidnappers, there's no turning back. And if we get captured, we are hooped!!" He was nearly shouting at the last, but managed to keep his voice lowered, if only barely.

"Jackson!" Cam answered with a sharp whisper, then continuing with the cooler voice he used from before. "I hear what you're sayin'...but I don't think we have a choice. As far as I can see, these people are not gonna be open to the idea that we are peaceful aliens out on a jolly jaunt just to look around." The Colonel spoke harshly at the end as he tried to explain the reality of their situation.

Daniel closed his eyes at his, sighing heavily as he wrestled with the issue, his emotions written clearly across his face. Vala watched him tenderly, with a sympathetic eye. It was difficult for her to see him suffer through this. She appreciated his viewpoint and so admired his idealism, but knew it was completely unrealistic. As wonderful as his view of people and life would be if it were true, she knew all too well that it was actually rather foolhardy sometimes.

Finally, Daniel sighed. He then looked down and said into his radio, "I can't free them quite yet," looking pained at the words as they left his lips. Vala briefly smiled at his reaction, then glanced down. She drew in a deep breath, knowing that Daniel was right about the risks of this play.

The stern voice came again over the radio, "If this is some kind of mistake, I suggest you release them, now." Vala looked back up to quietly watch Daniel again.

Ignoring the man's words, Daniel answered, "Listen, one of your people has been seriously injured. I suggest you send in medical personnel to take him out of here."

The reply came over the radio, "You've sealed off the museum. How do you expect us to get in?"

Daniel looked at Vala expectantly. At first she met his gaze with confusion, knitting her eyebrows together. Then she realized that he expected her to now have some knowledge of the security system. "Oh, uhm..." she said as she got her wits together. In her head she quickly considered what she'd seen just minutes before.

"Probably best to bring them in through the southerly entrance," she said, looking over he shoulder, thumbing back to where she had accessed the museum's computers. "There's a door down a short corridor on the other side of the bars there. We can let them cut open a hole in the gate. It's a confined enough space that we should be able to keep things under control." Cam raised an eyebrow at her words, and she quickly added, "...relatively, anyway..."

Daniel listened quietly, watching her pensively as she spoke. He hesitated as she finished, his eyes still upon her. Vala looked from Cam to Daniel to find him looking at her. She furrowed her eyebrows in surprise as she looked back at him, perplexed by what he might be thinking.

A moment later, Daniel looked down and keyed up the radio again. "You can come in through the south entrance," he said, releasing the button.

"Three people only," Cam said to Daniel quietly.

The archaeologist quickly keyed up again, "only send three people," he quickly added.

Teal'c spoke up just as Daniel finished. "None should be allowed but medical personnel," he intoned in a low voice.

"And only medical people..." Daniel added hastily, starting to look aggravated. He paused before releasing the button, looking around at his teammates with an irritated, questioning gaze. The three shared amused glances, then shook their heads. Daniel released the button.

The radio was silent for a moment, but then came to life once more. "We would like to send two medical people with one trooper, to ensure their safety," came the stern voice.

At first Daniel looked ready to accept the proposal, but then hesitated. He looked up from the radio at his friends, lifting his eyebrows with an inquisitive expression. The three again shared amused looks, then started to nod together, looking back at the archaeologist.

Daniel smirked wryly at their reactions, regarding his friends with with an annoyed expression. Keying up the radio, he answered, "That's fine." He was about to release the button, when Cam gave him a look. "But no funny business!" he added unconvincingly. Vala and Teal'c shared pained expressions and Cam rolled his eyes.

The archaeologist unkeyed the radio and lowered it from his face, answering his friends' looks with a tense voice. "Well I'm sorry, but this is the first time I've taken hostages, okay?"

"Amateur," Vala teased him with a droll voice, a small smile playing upon her lips. Daniel looked at her with a mixture of indignancy and disbelief. Cam and Teal'c glanced over at the woman with flat expressions. She looked at Teal'c, winked, and looked back at Daniel, smiling all the more. Jackson rolled his eyes at her.

Suddenly the radio came to life once more. "Our people will be at the South entrance in ten minutes."

Daniel keyed up, answering, "We'll be waiting." He sighed and looked at his three friends with a faintly bitter gaze, then walked off, heading towards the hallway that Vala had indicated. The raven-haired woman watched him for a few moments, then walked off after him.

"Hey," Mitchell called after her. She paused mid-stride and looked back at him with a questioning expression. "No hanky panky," he told her with an irate voice. The raven-haired woman glared at him with a measure of hostility, then turned away and continued after Daniel.

The Colonel watched the two quietly for a moment, then said quietly to Teal'c. "We'll give 'em a few minutes." The Jaffa nodded wordlessly, and Mitchell added, "Meanwhile, you and I can figure out how we want to play this little release we're about to do." The two wordlessly watched Daniel and Vala from afar for a few more moments.

"Kinda lousy timing for them to finally start figuring things out, huh?" he asked wryly, glancing over at the Jaffa. Teal'c smiled slightly at Mitchell's words, meeting his gaze and nodding.

"Indeed," he answered, pausing for a moment before returning his gaze to the far corner where Daniel and Vala had walked off to. Then he and Cam turned their attention to the hostages and spoke in low tones about how they would handle the upcoming encounter with the forces outside.

Jackson had wandered to the far corner of the room, close to where Vala had deposited her bag and hooked up the computer. He was staring silently at one of the many museum displays, looking over it with crossed arms. His jaw was set firmly, his brow troubled.

Vala approached Daniel hesitantly, watching him with a worried expression as she wondered what she was ever going to say to him. She knew they only had a few minutes to talk, and she wondered what she could ever say to him or expect from him in so short a time. For that matter, she wasn't sure if he would even want to talk to her right now.

"Daniel?" she said cautiously from a few steps away, almost freezing up as he looked back at her and met her eyes with his. He gave her a hard gaze, it looked like he was still angry over what had just happened. As to which part of it was bothering him, she could only guess and worry about. With everything that had happened, she was very nervous about what he was thinking right now.

She swallowed heavily, hesitating before continuing. "Look, I know you're upset that we wouldn't agree to release he hostages, it's just..."

He shook his head at her words, his expression softening. "Vala," he interrupted her with a sigh, "it's okay." Meeting her gaze, he paused, gathering his thoughts. With a weary expression he added, "You were right. As much as I hate to admit it, surrendering the hostages would have been suicide." He looked away, examining the exhibit again.

The raven-haired woman watched him silently for a moment, stepping closer to him. "I'm glad you see it that way, Daniel," she said quietly, hesitating before adding, "but you are still upset about it, aren't you?"

The archaeologist glanced back at her words. He watched her wordlessly, then looked back at the display, which was filled with an array of artifacts from when the Goa'uld ruled the planet. "There was a world we visited not too long ago," he began, speaking while studying the various artifacts. "Our arrival breathed life into a minor religious sect that still believed the Goa'uld that had left them millenia ago were really gods. They took our arrival through the Stargate as a sign their gods were going to return. The sect grew and overthrew the government of one of the world's two superpowers, causing a world-scale war that left millions dead."

Vala blinked in surprise at his words, looking troubled at the tale. Daniel paused for a few moments, then continued, "Now these people think we're some sort of group of rebels. There's no way this is going to end well, Vala," he said with a weary voice. "From here on out, no matter what we do, we've probably screwed things up royally here. Never mind any hope we might have had for good relations with these people." He sighed heavily, looking bitter and disappointed.

"Daniel," she said in a tender voice, stepping closer again. "Things are a bit different here, these people don't seem to want to believe that we came from another planet. Nothing's certain yet, it probably won't be as bad as what happened before." Daniel hesitated at her words, then looked back to meet her gaze, listening intently as she spoke. She continued, "No one chose this, there was nothing anyone could have done to make this happen differently. It was just an unfortunate case of one bad circumstance after another. All we can do now is make the best of it and try to get home in one piece."

He continued looking into her eyes as she finished speaking, considering her words silently. She looked back at him steadfastly, her gaze warm and understanding. He then nodded, saying with a sigh, "I know," He smiled weakly at her, adding, "but that doesn't make it any easier for me." There was then silence as each seemed to run out of things to say.

The two watched each other wordlessly until Vala cleared her throat nervously, looking down for a moment. Daniel furrowed his brow, regarding her with a confused and curious expression. The raven-haired woman looked back up at him, watching him apprehensively as she started to say with a hesitant voice, "Daniel, I..." She stopped, apparently overwhelmed by what she was trying to tell him.

Daniel turned to face her, looking concerned at her demeanor. Vala became even more nervous, regarding him sheepishly and fidgeting a little. She looked down and hesitated, then suddenly blurted out the words in a rush. "I just wanted to apologize for back at the Stargate, it was completely inappropriate of me to kiss you when I did, given the circumstances, I..."

"Vala," Daniel said firmly and quietly, interrupting her as an incredulous expression came over his face at her words. Vala snapped her mouth shut as she heard him speak her name, looking up as he walked over to stand close to her. She stared at him with wide, fearful eyes. The archaeologist clenched his jaw at the sight of her emotional countenance, the memories of her apology from last night and the expression her face just before he kissed her in the first place rushing over him.

As he came to stand near her, Vala suddenly found her breath quickening. She felt terrified as she looked up into his gaze. Shaking his head, he said quietly, "Vala, please don't apologize for that." She furrowed her brow at his words, regarding him with a confused expression. He smiled warmly at her reaction, the first genuine smile she'd seen from him since he broke away from her kiss. She gave a weak, small smile in return, but her eyes were still filled with worry.

"I don't want you to apologize for kissing me," he repeated in a soft, gentle voice. "I could have stopped you earlier, but I didn't." Vala blinked in surprise at his point, looking slightly more relaxed as she considered his words. "I chose to kiss you back..."

After a pause, she sighed and replied, "That's sweet of you to say, Daniel, but Cam and Teal'c could have been hurt or worse while we were..." she paused and closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath and then correcting herself, "while I was..." Her voice trailed off, she found she was unable to finish what she was trying to say.

The archaeologist pursed his lips at her words, reached up and touched her cheek. Her eyes flew open at his touch and she found herself looking into his eyes again. "Vala, if one of us was bein irresponsible for that second kiss, then we both were. There's no way it was just your fault alone." She looked like she was considering his point a little. He grinned, adding, "I mean, I seem to recall kissing back...pretty fervently, too." She couldn't help but smile at this, looking down at his words.

"The simple fact is," he said, "neither Cam nor Teal'c were hurt, and for the moment, everything is under control." Vala looked back up at him, continuing to listen. He could see her continuing struggle with her guilt written clearly on her face. "Please, don't feel bad about what happened, okay?" She pursed her lips and sighed in frustration, looking away as she continued to wrestle with her feelings.

Daniel grinned wryly, adding with a playful voice, "what, do I need to remind you again that I kissed you in the first place?"

Vala looked up at him, blushing slightly. She paused as she looked deeply into his eyes, then smirked at his words. After a few moments, she answered "Oh, I remember that quite well, Daniel." She paused, then added mischievously, "and don't you think I'm ever going to let you forget that fact..."

Daniel smiled widely at her reaction, looking back into her eyes with a warm gaze. The return smile that blossomed upon Vala's lips dazzled the archaeologist. The two stared at each other silently, time seeming to slow to a standstill.

"Hey," came Mitchell's voice, suddenly breaking the spell. The two looked over to see the Colonel standing a few feet away. "Let's go. It's showtime."

A Stolen Moment - chapter 2

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:31:22 GMT

Here's the next chapter in A Stolen Moment.

A Stolen Moment

Chapter 2

The four members of SG-1 who had come to P4M-328 were all gathering around the false DHD. Vala was replacing the various fake keys that Mitchell had sent crashing to the floor minutes earlier. As she restored the last few, the Colonel spoke, "If they found a gate, they most likely found a DHD, no?"

Jackson answered briskly, "We didn't." In the few minutes since Cam and Teal'c had returned, the archaeologist had been thinking about the kiss he shared with Vala and the way they'd been discovered by their friends. While he was still reeling from the shock learning the DHD was a phony, he was also wrestling with the embarrasment of being discovered as they had been, and trying to understand why he kissed her in the first place.

In hindsight, Daniel wasn't sure why he had kissed Vala, and he was feeling very frustrated and confused about the whole affair. His whole gut was knotted up in aggravation.

Undaunted by the archaeologist's answer, Cam asked further, "Well they knew enough to build a pretty convincing replica, so they must have one lying around here somewhere, no?"

"No," Daniel replied with an irritated voice, "they could have just fabricated it from drawings," looking over at Mitchell with a flat stare.

The mood was becoming increasingly bleak, and Teal'c's next comment did nothing to help. "If indeed they did possess an authentic DHD, would they not display it near the authentic gate?"

The three men looked dour at the point, and Mitchell answered defeatedly, "Good point. Good point."

With a grim expression, Daniel said definitively, "We're stuck."

"No we're not," Vala said casually in a matter-of-fact voice as she replaced her last piece. She seemed completely oblivious to the mood of the three. Daniel looked over at her with an irritated expression.

Looking up from the DHD, she blinked in surprise as she saw his reaction and shrugged, elaborating,"Well, when we fail to make the scheduled check-in, General Landry will dial in, at which point we'll ask him to send a naquadah generator and a laptop with a dialing program and that's that!" She looked at him with an expression that clearly showed her surprise that she was the only one to realize such a blindingly apparent fact.

Looking surprised and flustered, Daniel started to answer, "We knew that!" Teal'c and Cam looked around uncomfortably as the archaeologist sputtered, feeling equally foolish for missing the obvious. Jackson added weakly, "I-I-I thought that when I said that we're stuck, that you would know that I meant 'until then'..."

Blinking at his words, Vala tilted her head as she looked at him with a disbelieving stare and said, "Well, then you should say what you mean."

Raising an eyebrow at her, he peered across the DHD at her. "I don't think you want me to start doing that," he said warningly.

Narrowing her eyes at him, Vala sensed the underlying tension in his words. Looking into his eyes, she guessed that their kiss was the ultimate cause, and suddenly felt very annoyed. She answered dangerously, "I don't think you want to start thinking what I think.

The archaeologist paused at her answer, the two staring tensely at each other for several seconds. "Anywho!" he finally said to break the silence, "FYI, we don't need the dialing computer. Worst case scenario, we can always dial the gate manually." Vala smirked at his desperate attempt to recover some of his authority as one of the most seasoned members of SG1.

Oblivious to her reaction, Mitchell responded, "Right, kick it rotary style. We still need a power source. What about the MALP?"

"No," Daniel said quickly.

"Seaweed," Cam countered.

"Don't go there," Daniel said warningly, frowning with a dour expression.

Sighing, the Colonel answered, "Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Jackson glanced at his watch and said, "So, therefore, next check-in is in just under six hours."

"Good," Vala said nonchalantly, glancing at Teal'c she said, "Muscles, that means that we have time to go to the party." At that, she turned and started to walk off.

"No, it does not!" Mitchell barked at her, stopping her in her tracks. "It means we stay here out of sight and remain as inconspicuous as possible." As he spoke, Vala frowned bitterly, slowly moving back to the DHD, rolling her eyes as he finished chastising her. "With a bit of luck, the people on this planet will never even know we were here."

Just then a young couple appeared around a corner, kissing passionately. The two were extremely intent upon one another, moaning loudly as they embraced tightly.

Suddenly the woman pushed the man away, saying, "Don't tell Sylvana. She is like a sister to me."

The man answered ferverently, "Never."

They began kissing again. The man pressed himself against the woman, pinning her to the column. Both of them were very vocal, their moans echoing throughout the chamber.

The four around the DHD looked on in shock. After a moment, Vala glanced over at Daniel, her eyes regarding him mischeviously as her mind filled with memories of the intimate kiss they shared just minutes ago.

Daniel watched the couple in stunned silence. Suddenly he furrowed his brow, as if something had suddenly occurred to him. He glanced over at Vala hesitently and saw her regard him with a wanton gaze, licking her lips as he met her stare. Daniel blinked in surprise, peering at her wordlessly.

Cam and Teal'c each eyed at the couple on the far side of the room briefly, then looked at Daniel and Vala and watched as their friends shared their intimate gaze. The two men then glanced at each other wearily. Both rolled their eyes with exasperated expressions.

Suddenly the young couple pulled apart and turned to walk into the room, drawing all attention back to them as they did. The two would-be lovers froze in their tracks when they saw the members of SG1 standing behind the fake DHD. They stared at the heavily armed foursome with wide, fearful eyes.

"Hi," Cam said hesitantly, waving weakly. He continued with an awkward voice, adding, "There's nothing to be alarmed about. We...um..."

Suddenly the woman started to scream. Turning on her heel, she ran out of the room, the young man quickly following with a frightened backward glance back as he left.

The four around the gate moved immediately. Cam and Teal'c made their way around the DHD as Vala too stepped forward to chase after the young couple. Before she'd even gotten two feet, however, she yelped as Cam grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back, shoving her behind him. At the same time, Daniel stepped forward, catching Vala in his arms, looking on while Teal'c and Mitchell ran after the two interlopers. Vala tried again to follow, but Daniel held her tightly.

"How come they get to go?" she asked in exasperation, Daniel pursing his lips in frustration at her antics, holding her in place as she tried again to follow. They both watched as their friends disappeared out of the room, leaving the two alone once more.

Vala's frustration lasted for only an instant longer before she suddenly realized that she was again wrapped up in Daniel's arms. She blinked at this thought as a small grin began to play upon her lips. Slowly her head pivoted around to look up at him from her vantage point.

As soon as Vala stopped struggling, the archaeologist suddenly realized the same thing, blinking in surprise at the sequence of events that put her once more in his embrace. Her sable locks brushed his neck as she turned her head and then he could feel her eyes upon him. After hesitating for a moment, he slowly looked down at her, a sudden nervousness sweeping over him. A few stray strands of her hair tickled his face as her scent filled his nostrils. He wondered idly why he was still holding her in his arms.

Before he could ponder the question any further, their eyes met and the beautiful, raven-haired woman smiled from ear to ear. For some reason Daniel suddenly found the question quickly fleeting from his mind, along with much of the frusration he'd had just before. The faint light from their flashlights, pointing off into space at nothing in particular, cast heavy shadows across both of their faces. He could feel the warmth of her body pressed against his, he could feel the steady rhythm of her breathing which was suddenly quickening for some reason.

When she looked into his eyes, Vala saw him look back down at her with a hesitant, nervous gaze. She could feel his apprehension, but she also noticed he still held her close to him. She was glad for it, after sensing his irritation before.

As Daniel looked down at her, he felt more anxious than he had in years, swallowing hard as he saw her brilliant smile. In spite of the darkness, her eyes seemed to sparkle, captivating him. He tried to smile in return, but it was a feeble effort.

"Hi," he said nervously, suddenly feeling trapped even though it was he that held her.

"Hello," she breathed huskily, her smile growing even more, forcibly reminding Daniel of the Cheshire Cat.

Feeling even more awkward, Daniel started to release his grip on her. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could say a word she suddenly reached up with her one hand, wrapped her arm about his neck and pulled his lips down to hers, kissing him passionately.

The archaeologist let out a muffled yelp of surprise as her tongue stole its way into his mouth, her soft lips firmly pressing against his. His eyes fell closed as he stood there dumbfounded for a moment, her sweet scent filling his nostrils and the sensual wetness of her kiss threatening to rob him of his reason. The tender caress of her fingers gliding through his hair helped to finish the job, and before he knew what was happening he had wrapped her up in his arms again, holding her tightly to him as he met her tongue with his.

Vala moaned into his mouth as she felt him kiss her back, smiling and sighing happily from the tips of her toes. She leaned back, resting her weight against him. Their lips rubbed together eagerly as she continued to play with his hair, tracing her fingernails over his skin. Daniel's arms tightened about her, pressing her even more firmly against him. Her smile within the kiss grew all the more as she felt his reaction to her nearness pressing against her bottom. She wiggled her hips, taking advantage of their positioning and was answered with a very satisfying moan from the archaeologist.

The motion of her body against his set Daniel's brain on fire, searing away what was left of his reason. He kissed her even more ferverently, his breath becoming heavy as he squeezed her to him. Vala moaned at this, breaking the kiss just long enough to turn about in his arms, immediately wrapping her arms about his neck and pulling his lips back to hers again, never giving him the chance to take a breath. She pressed her body to his, cursing their bulky vests which prevented them from getting as close as she desired.

Daniel almost regained his reason as she repositioned herself, but quickly lost the opportunity as her luscious lips again assaulted him, her tongue once more entwining with his. After a few more seconds of her sensual caresses, his arms embraced her tightly again, the fire consuming his brain once more.

Eager for more of him, Vala started to stroke his neck and cheeks, standing on her tippy-toes to get even closer still. Daniel sighed heavily against her lips at the tenderness of her touch, surprising himself even more as his hands spontaneously reached down to grasp her bottom, squeezing firmly. He shocked himself with his action, but he couldn't deny that he was pleased at the broad smile he felt upon her lips as they kissed.

The jolt served to restore Daniel's reason, however. Suddenly he broke the kiss and looked away, his breath coming in heavy gasps as he struggled to regain his senses. He felt drunk, and that frightened him. Vala stared up at him with a now worried expression, her breathing just as heavy. "What's wrong?" she asked with a hint of fear in her voice. Her eyes searched his face, desperate for any sign of what he was thinking.

"Vala," he breathed but then hesitated, not sure what to say to her. He couldn't bring himself yet to look at her, his mind was still a turbulent mix of the passion she had evoked in him and the misgivings he had about what was happening between them. The seconds ticked by in silence as he wrestled with himself.

Seeing his uncertainty, she bit her lip as she began to feel very nervous and panicky now. "Daniel, please talk to me," she pleaded with an anxious, tense voice. Hearing her emotional question, Daniel finally turned his gaze back to her, looking into her eyes. He saw again the same fear and worry that he'd seen both last night and before he had kissed her in the first place. Suddenly, he remembered why he'd done it.

Sighing heavily, he reached up and caressed her cheek. To his dismay, his touch had the opposite reaction than he wanted, causing the fear to grow in her eyes. He knew if he didn't say something at once, it'd be too late.

"Vala," he said quickly, pausing only for a moment before he suddenly blurted out, "believe me, there's nothing I'd rather do than just keep kissing you and forget about the rest of the world." The smile that crossed her lips at his words still managed to dazzle him, as weak and nervous as it was. He looked in her eyes and could clearly see she knew he wasn't being completely sincere. Indeed, even as the words left his lips, they felt like a lie. But yet, they weren't, either. There was truth to what he said.

"But this isn't the time or the place," he continued with a gentle voice, his hand still stroking her cheek. The problem was, he was so confused right now that he didn't know what to think. As happy as Vala seemed to be at the prospect of what their kissing had eluded to, Daniel was nervous and frightened by the same possibilities. If they really were going to go down that road, he needed to have closure on a few things. He couldn't even believe he was thinking just that, he had never considered the possibility seriously before, yet here he was. Just the thought of what their kiss portended left him completely dumbfounded.

Vala watched at him keenly as he spoke, studying his face. She clenched her jaw in the silence following his words, reached up and took his hand away from her face, then gave him a stare that cut right through him. "You're not happy with any of this, are you?" she said bluntly, searching his eyes intently for his reaction.

Daniel pursed his lips at her question, sighing. Her eyes started to narrow as she thought she read his answer before he spoke. He decided to just be straight about it. "Vala, I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous and scared about what just happened between us," she opened her mouth to say something and he could see the sharp comment soming as her eyes hardened. He kept talking, keeping her from getting in a word edgewise, "but at the same time, I kissed you first, didn't I?"

She hesitated, biting back her harsh words. He could tell that he caught her off guard, probably by anticipating what she'd been ready to throw at him. Looking deeply into her eyes, he said further in complete earnest, "If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing." She blinked in surprise at this, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "I'd still kiss you like I did." He smiled and added, "and I'd still enjoy it just as much."

Her azure eyes stared at him intently as the silence again settled between them. Finally she asked with a tense voice, "So where does that leave us, Daniel?" As hard as her expression was, he again saw a glimpse that same fear in her eyes, swirling about in complete confusion at his words.

"I don't know," he said plainly with a regretful voice. "I wish we could sit down and figure that out right now, but this couldn't be a worst time. I mean, any second, Cam and Teal'c are going to come back around that corner we're going to have to deal with a very sticky situation." Vala closed her eyes at his words and nodded sullenly. Suddenly the reality of where they were and what they were faced flooded their minds again.

She sighed, looking away as she reluctantly pulled away from him. Pursing his lips at her reaction, Daniel caught her hand in his as she stepped away. Vala looked over suddenly at his touch, watching him with a guarded expression. "Hey," he said, catching her gaze with his. "Just remember, I chose to kiss you..."

She stared at him with an unreadable expression, hesitating. He smiled warmly at her, squeezing her hand in his. A small smile crossed her lips and she squeezed back, saying with a quiet voice. "Come on, we should see what's taking them so long..."

Daniel nodded, and the two broke eye contact, starting to walk off together. Neither noticing the fact that they were still holding hands.

They walked down the corridor wordlessly, neither looking very happy. They reached about halfway down the hall when Daniel's head suddenly jerked up and he stopped in his tracks, pulling her to a stop with him.

"What's wrong? Vala asked, looking over at him.

"Did you just hear gun fire?" Daniel asked worriedly.

The raven haired woman furrowed her brow, opening her mouth to say no when suddenly her eyes opened wide. "Yes..." she said with panic in her voice as she suddenly heard a burst down the far length of the hallway.

The two let go of each other's hands and turned on their heels, gripping their P-90s and charging down the hallway at a full run.

A Stolen Moment

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:42:06 GMT

The following is an original bit of SG-1 fanfic I just wrote, based upon an idea given to me by a friend. (Thanks, Wendy!) Please feel free to post comments with your thoughts about what I've written.

This little vignette takes place just before and during the opening scene of Badguys, (SG1, Season 10). Naturally, spoiler warnings for that episode apply.

The reader should also note this is a very shippy Daniel/Vala piece. You have been warned, if fluff is not your stuff, surf elsewhere!

A Stolen Moment

Daniel was in his lab, leaning over his desk and studying an ancient piece of papyrus that SG-6 had brought back from P8K-457. He smiled slightly, sighing happily as he settled in and started the work to tease out the secrets from the faded writing scrawled across the pale, fragile surface. He had spent the past several hours pouring over Athena's research of the weapon that she had tried to find through Vala's damaged memories, and he was almost ready to call it a day.

Before he did, however, he had decided to treat himself and put the more important work aside, giving himself the luxury of looking at the rolled up scroll that SG-6 had left on his desk a week ago. The furled piece of papyrus had been sitting there since, teasing and taunting him with the mysteries that lay within. It was a welcome reprieve from the laborious work of cross-referencing the cartouche.

As the archaeologist began to lose himself in the translation, his mind falling into the gentle lull of linguistics, his concentration was shattered as a shadow fell over the parchment.

Before he even glanced up, the smell of perfume told Daniel who it was.

"Hello Vala," he said with a warm voice, pausing a moment before looking up to stare into her brilliantly blue eyes.

The raven-haired woman, leaning on the adjacent side of his lab bench, hesitated at his greeting. A faint look of surprise crossed her face as he greeted her before looking at her, a smile playing upon her lips as their eyes met. She looked into his gaze fondly, a look he returned with a patient smile.

"Hello Daniel," she said with a pleased voice, happily caught off guard by the warmth she heard in his words, savoring his attention as they looked at each other.

Several moments crept by without another word, causing Daniel to grin wryly. "What's up?" he finally asked, raising an eyebrow at her. The woman blinked as his words broke the spell, catching her off guard with the question.

"Oh, uhm," she began awkwardly, clearing her throat as she tried to get her wits about her. Daniel smiled all the more, remembering a time long ago when she would have irritated him by interrupting his work. Those days were long past, however. Now, he found her presence an even more welcome interlude than the paper he'd been studying - though he'd never admit it to her.

"I'd been meaning to stop by before," she said slowly as she glanced down, now suddenly unable to keep eye contact with the archaeologist. Daniel furrowed his brow at this, sensing an awkwardness in her that was rather uncharacteristic. She continued, "but something always seemed to come up." Clearing her throat she paused and tossed her head back up, meeting his gaze again. "Truth be told, I kept putting it off because, well," she sighed, "well it's not easy for me to do this."

Daniel stared at her with a bewildered expression, blinking a few times. "Uhm," he mouthed, hesitating. "Vala, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about." Even as he said the words, he wondered inwardly if he really wanted to find out. The raven-haired woman looked a touched embarrassed as she realized she'd completely failed to explain to him what was on her mind. "What's not easy for you to do?" Daniel asked with a hesitant voice, increasingly nervous about her answer.

Smiling nervously, Vala forced a fake laugh. "Right," she said, looking down again. She paused a few moments before finally blurting out, "I came here to apologize to you, Daniel." As the words left her lips, she looked up again, watching him with an intent gaze. "I know it's been a while, and I should have probably said it before, but..." she sighed, "like I said, this isn't easy for me."

Her answer left him both relieved and even more confused than before, though a measure of apprehension remained. "Well," he started, hesitating once more, "I suppose that's good to hear, but I really don't know what you want to apologize to me for yet," he prompted in a gentle voice, now watching her with a curious eye. The woman's expression fell even more.

"Oh, I am just butchering this, aren't I?" she asked forlornly, looking at him with a pleading expression.

Daniel smiled warmly at her. He was glad to see his smile helped Vala to relax, if just a little bit. He stopped leaning on his desk and stood up straight, watching her as she mirrored his actions. "Look," he started, glancing over to the corner of his lab with the computers. "Just relax, and let's go sit down and talk about this." He glanced back over to her, raising his eyebrows with a questioning gaze.

Vala drew in a deep breath at his words, nodding silently. She followed him as he walked back and pulled up a chair for her, seating himself by the computer. He smiled warmly at her as she sat in front of him, regarding her with a gracious eye. "Okay," he began, watching as she tensed up again. "Why don't you start from the beginning, and just tell me what's on your mind?"

The raven-haired woman drew in another deep breath at his words, nodding yet again. Sighing heavily, she paused and looked down, gathering her thoughts. "What I was trying to say Daniel," she began slowly, looking back up at him as she continued, "was that I wanted to apologize to you for not believing you when you were a Prior." She watched him intently as she spoke, and he could sense her nervousness. "You were telling the truth the whole time and I didn't give you the benefit of the doubt." He saw her jaw clenching as she paused, amazed at what he was hearing and how it seemed to affect her. "You deserve better than that," she added, "especially after how much you've taken chances on me, believing in me when I really hadn't done anything to earn it." She sighed heavily as she finished speaking, watching him with a nervous eye.

The archaeologist blinked in surprise at her words, completely taken aback. He wasn't sure what he expected, but this wasn't it. He supposed he was expecting some early apology for her getting into trouble, getting him to forgive her before Landry chewed him out for something she'd done.

This caught him completely off guard, though. He had to sit silently for a moment or two and process it, watching her intently as he did. While the silence dragged on, Vala became more and more nervous, watching him with a wary eye.

Finally, Daniel smiled beatifically, watching her with amazement. Vala let out the breath she'd been holding, smiling in answer. "Vala, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that," he said, "but you really don't have to apologize for anything." She furrowed her brow at this, looking perplexed.

Chuckling, he explained with a shrug, "I understand where you were coming from. Given what was at stake, and given how well you understand Adria, I can't really blame you for being skeptical."

Vala smiled faintly at his words, watching him intently as he spoke. She looked down as her expression grew troubled, hesitating for a moment before answering, "That's very sweet of you to say Daniel, but that's exactly why I need to apologize to you." His eyebrows knitted together as her gaze came up to meet his again. "Ever since that day I've been second guessing myself - Was it because of what was at stake that I didn't believe you, or was it because Adria was involved?"

Daniel inclined his head as she spoke, his face becoming reflective. Seeing his reaction, Vala realized he hadn't considered that angle before. She almost regretted coming to him with it now. Almost.

"By refusing to believe you," she said painfully, forcing herself to keep eye contact with him, "I was saying that I didn't believe you could resist her attempts to sway you, that you weren't strong enough." Daniel's brows knitted together again, it amazed her that this seemed like a surprise to him. "But you deserve so much better than that, especially after everything you've done for me," she said with an emotional voice, her eyes searching his as she spoke. He didn't speak, but looked back into her eyes with a deeply thoughtful expression.

She drew in a deep breath, adding, "That's the other thing," she said with a nervous voice, smiling weakly, "I've never really said thank you for any of it, have I?" She paused, waiting for a moment. Seeing he wasn't ready to speak, she continued, "I mean, you were even sweet enough to take me out to dinner as a thank you of your own, when it really should have been me doing something just as nice to thank you for everything you've done for me." She stared into his eyes, worried beyond words. Again, silence.

She sighed, looking down. This was far more difficult than she'd thought. "In the time since that day, Daniel," she said, pausing gather up her courage again. "I've really been questioning whether my unwillingness to believe in you was simply because I was jealous of Adria." She lifted her head, meeting his gaze once more. "Jealous that perhaps she'd managed to touch you on a level that I've been hoping to reach with you for a long time now."

The archaeologist blinked in shock at her words, completely speechless. His jaw hung slack. She looked at him with emotional eyes, clenching her jaw anxiously. Daniel found himself feeling surprisingly nervous as well, his heart racing as he slowly absorbed her words.

He opened his mouth to answer when suddenly Cam's voice from the doorway shattered the moment, "Hey, guys!" The two jumped in shock, both looking over with surprised expressions at the Colonel standing in the door. "You ready for the meeting tomorrow morning, Jackson?"

The two looked at him in silence, both still overwhelmed from the moment before and stunned by the sudden ending of it. Sensing the awkwardness, Cam asked hesitantly, "I, um..." he coughed, "I wasn't interrupting anything there, was I?"

Vala jumped up at his words, smiling brilliantly at him. "Not a worry Colonel," she said, "it's late and I should be heading to bed anyway." She walked briskly to the door, her anxiousness carrying her forward. She couldn't believe she'd just said all that to Daniel, she was sure now she'd made a mistake. "If I don't get a full night's rest, I'll be a wreck tomorrow. That just wouldn't do if we end up on a mission." She forced a grin as she walked past Mitchell. Pausing at the doorway, she looked back for the briefest of moments at Daniel. As she did, all traces of her happy facade vanished, her eyes showing him again how nervous and frightened she was. Then she was gone.

Daniel sat in his chair, staring at where she'd been in shocked silence. Cam looked on for a moment before he silently slinked away, his cheeks flushing as he felt like a damned fool for barging in as he had. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd interrupted, but he figured his timing couldn't have been worse.

All of SG-1 sat around the briefing room table, except for Sam. Daniel and Vala were on one side while Mitchell and Teal'c were on the other. Landry sat at the head of the table. The archaeologist had arrived first, hoping that Vala would show up early too. He was eager to talk to her about what she'd said last night. Unfortunately, she was not only the last to show up, but she was also ten minutes late. Daniel had no choice but to dive right into the meeting as soon as she seated herself.

"The Clava Thessara Infinitas," he opened up with elaborating, "The Key to Infinite Treasure. A cache of Ancient wealth and weapons."

Looking over at the archaeologist thoughtfully, Mitchell replied, "You do realize the last cache of Ancient stuff we picked up is what got us in trouble with the Ori in the first place."

"So what?" Daniel answered incredulously, "Just leave it out there for someone else to find?" Mitchell shrugged, nodding once in acknowledgment of Jackson's point.

Teal'c pointed out, "I thought you believed the Clava Thessara Infinitas to be a hoax, Daniel Jackson."

Nodding, he answered, "I did, yes, but the research Athena did is actually quite compelling. Now, after cross referencing her research and our cartouche, I was able to generate a gate address."

Looking intrigued, Mitchell said, "Possible location of the treasure."

"I'm not sure, but we sent a MALP to P4M-328, and the images it sent back are particularly interesting." Leafing through the papers in the open folder before him, Daniel pulled out some pictures. "Now, the hieroglyphs on the wall are all out of order and from various different dynasties. At first glance, they don't make any sense," he said as he started to hand the pictures to Landry when Vala interrupted, reaching for the photos.

"It's a code!" she said exuberantly, smiling brilliantly at him. The archaeologist paused, glancing back at her with a measure of irritation. He didn't say a word but pushed her hand away, proceeding to hand the images to Landry.

"Sounds like it's worth checking out," the General answered. "Go ahead."

Teal'c spoke up at this, "Should we not wait until Colonel Carter returns from Washington?"

"She's still there briefing the President on the scenario that played out in the alternate reality where the Stargate was made public," Landry responded.

Furrowing his brow, Mitchell commented, "Well that's taking longer than it was supposed to."

Daniel shrugged as he pointed out, "It could be a good way to examine what might happen here."

The General grinned at this, saying, "Sounds like President Hayes is having a hard time just getting past the fact that he wasn't President." With that, they all wordlessly got up and set about getting ready for their mission to P4M-328. Again, Daniel lingered a little, trying to discretely get Vala's attention. She was quick for the door, however, leaving without a word.

The columned room with the Stargate was dark and silent. Suddenly the stone ring came to life, each chevron lighting in turn until the last lit up and the wormhole connected with explosive force. The blue light from the wall of water shimmered within the circle, and within moments the four of SG-1 that were in the briefing stepped through the event horizon.

Four flashlights clicked on, the pale yellow beams of light casting about the room. Daniel spoke first, "Well, I'm gonna set up my camera and take some high-res stills of these glyphs." He walked over to one of the walls with hieroglyph panels, shining his light over it's surface, looking at it with a perplexed brow. At the same time, the others started to spread out, shining their own lights around, surveying the room silently.

After a few moments, Mitchell looked over at Vala, casting his light in her direction, "Give Ansel Adams there a hand. Teal'c and I'll check out the perimeter."

The woman pursed her lips at this, furrowing her brow. Given her disastrous attempt to apologize to him last night, being alone with him wasn't exactly what she wanted right now. "Right," she answered, slowly wandering over to the archaeologist. She began to mutter, "Well, I'm sure that's a very witty popular culture reference, but I..."

"He's a photographer best known for his black and white images of California's Yosemite Valley," Daniel answered flatly, meeting her gaze as she came to stand by him.

Vala watched Daniel with a reserved expression as he answered, forcing a smile as his words explained Cam's comments. "Oh!" she said in sudden comprehension, forcing a chuckle. She called after Cam with a fake laugh, "Ha, ha. Good one!"

Suddenly the two of them were alone in the room, which was even more dark now that the flashlights carried by Teal'c and Cam were gone with the two. Vala looked back at Daniel with a nervous stare, swallowing hard as she found him studying her intently instead of the hieroglyphs. She looked into his eyes in the shadowy light of their flashlights and knew there was no more escaping this. So, she decided to just tackle it head on. "Listen Daniel, about what I said last night," she began, only for the archaeologist to cut her off.

"I'm glad you brought it up, because I've been eager to talk to you about it," he started but she interrupted him in turn.

"Well, I'll make it easy for you," she answered quickly, her heart pounding in her throat. "You don't need to worry about any of it, I really shouldn't have said anything," she blurted out, hoping against hope that would be enough to put the matter to rest.

Daniel's expression quickly told her that was a foolish thought, however, as he looked at her with a slightly annoyed expression. She sighed, pursing her lips. "Well, it was worth a shot," she said quietly.

"Vala," he began, decided to cut to the heart of the matter, "what did you mean when you said you were jealous, that you wondered if Adria had managed to reach me in a way you'd wanted to for a long time?"

The raven-haired woman closed her eyes painfully as he spoke, trying to fight back the tears. Yes, this was exactly what she didn't want. "Daniel," she said in a trembling voice, "Please, just forget it, alright?"

He watched her in silence, stunned at the hurt he saw written across her face. Suddenly everything about her that annoyed him, everything he thought that he was afraid that kept him from getting to close to her vanished. Swallowing hard, he said simply, "Vala..."

Something in his voice made her open her eyes against her will. She looked up into his gaze with wet eyes, frustrated beyond belief. What she saw there confused her, the warmth in the look he gave her was not what she expected.

Suddenly he cupped her face in his hands, leaned in, and pressed his lips to hers. Vala drew in a sharp, surprised breath as he kissed her, every last thought vanishing from her mind as she felt his lips pressing against hers. Suddenly her eyelids became too heavy to keep open, slowly falling shut as she reached up, stopping just shy of touching his face as he kissed her insistently.

Even as he pressed his lips to hers, Daniel couldn't believe that he'd done it. Nonetheless, he gently stroked her cheeks with his hands and lovingly caressed her lips with his own. His tongue glided tenderly over her lips, which she immediately and thoughtlessly parted for him. He kissed her deeply, exploring her mouth sensuously as she moaned softly against him.

After a few moments, Vala regained her senses and began kissing back with a passion that grew with each breath she took. Her wavering hands reached up the rest of the way and she wrapped her arms about his neck, pressing her body against his. She finally met his tongue with her own, tenderly caressing him and smiling within the kiss as she heard him moan against her mouth. Daniel slid his hands down her body, wrapping his arms about her waist, pulling her even more tightly to him as they kissed passionately, the fire growing faster and faster.

Time lost all meaning for the two as a heady feeling came over both of them. In the back of his mind, Daniel couldn't believe what he was doing, but at the same time he knew it felt right. He pressed his lips to hers more firmly as he felt her respond, the eagerness of her lips and tongue clouding his mind and making him lose himself in her scent and in the feel of her body pressing against hers.

Vala couldn't have been happier, all of the fear and doubt that she'd been living with for the past twelve hours melting away. She kissed Daniel for all that she was worth, hungry for as much as he would give her. With every second that passed, she felt a growing yearning for him, and an irritated frustration as she remembered that this was neither the time or the place where she could have what she really wanted.

But right now, she didn't care. Instead, she ran her fingers through his hair, moaning loudly against his lips as her tongue wrestled playfully with his. Daniel squeezed her to him, sighing happily into the kiss, his lips caressing hers sweetly.

"Pack it up!" came Mitchell's yell as he rounded the corner, he and Teal'c stopping on their heels as they saw the two entangled with one another. "Woah!" he yelled in surprise, even as Teal'c regarded the two with wide eyes and an eyebrow that shot halfway up his forehead.

Daniel and Vala broke the kiss instantly, the archaeologist looking back over his shoulder with suddenly blushing cheeks and even Vala peering around from behind the man who held her with wide eyes and a scarlet countenance.

The four paused awkwardly as the seconds ticked by, none sure exactly what to say. "Ooookay," Mitchell began as he realized of the two in front of him, neither of whom had even started to release the other, neither were about to say anything. "Look, we'll talk about this later. Right now, we've got to get out of here. I'm pull the plug on this mission. This is not a tomb, it's a museum!"

"What?" Daniel asked in shock, sharing a stunned look with Vala. Both looked relieved that there was something to serve as a distraction from the very awkward moment that they'd just gone through. Nonetheless, the two were slow to pull apart. In spite of their circumstances, neither seemed willing to let the moment go.

As they stood apart, Daniel glanced over at the column that was right next to him and Vala. "Well, that would explain why the hieroglyphs were all jumbled," he said as he shone a light over its surface.

As he walked briskly past them to the DHD and started trying to dial, he added, "And there's a pretty big party going on next door, so…"

"Right!" Daniel said, suddenly even more motivated to leave quickly. He knelt down, intending on packing up, when he realized with a wry grin that he'd never really unpacked. All his time had been spent lip-locking with Vala.

At Mitchell's words, Vala lit up, asking, "What kind of party?"

The Colonel paused in his efforts to dial the difficult symbols on the DHD at her words, turning his flashlight on her. "Don't you think you've had enough excitement for one day?" he asked dryly, casting his light over to Daniel, then back to her.

"Oh that?" she asked spiritedly, a wide grin covering her face. "We were just warming up," she said with a wicked voice, glancing down to see Daniel looking up at her with a surprised expression.

"Well, in either case," Cam continued, turning his attention back to the DHD, "This is the kind we do not invite ourselves to." As he spoke, he started tapping the buttons with increasing frustration as nothing seemed to be working. "This is a first contact situation. When a civilization reaches a certain level of development, we don't do those in person. We send the MALP to make contact and, if they are into the idea of extra-terrestrial visitors, then we get to go to the party, not before. Basic protocol."

By this time, he'd become both frustrated and worried at his fruitless attempts to work the DHD. Suddenly, one of the keys came loose in his hand. He picked it up and showed it to Daniel, the two sharing a worried glance. Walking around to the front of the unit, he bent down and too easily lifts it up, half of the plastic keys falling to the floor with a clatter. Mitchell dropped the unit and it landed with a hollow thud. The four exchanged amazed looks.

"Okay, this is not good," Cam said obviously, the lot of them suddenly forgetting the awkward circumstance from just a few moments ago.

Fruitcake table

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:40:30 GMT

Okay, so this is my first post on my new Live Journal!

I'll probably post a lot more here, mostly about SG-1 and the D/V ship.

First and foremost, however, I set this up so that I could answer the call in The Oven for turning Milena_D's roster into a table... ;)

(scroll down)

Handle	"name"	Gender	occupation	Notes
DJgirl	Wendy		A/C/F
Djay	Djay		A/C
Gioia	Gioia		F
natalia	Nat		G
Stef	Stef		A/F/V	(ValaMD on FF.net/YT) not to be confused with MD which is Isa’s nickname for me
Milena_D.	Milena		F	everywhere cuz I'm nice
Isabelqc	Isa		A/F	(hariboo smirks on LJ)
Kales	Kales/Kay		F	(sorrel rowan on FF.net/LJ)
CrazyLikeAFox	Cat		F
Odakota-Rose	Ren		F/V
LC	LC		F
ErinB	Erin		F	(AerynB on FF.net and LJ)
Toomi	Toomi		F
Tonttu	Tonttu	guy	V
Kath_pup	Kath		E
RinggoldGate	Susan		G
Poundpuppy29	Erika
MaeveBran	Maeve		F
Anjirika	Anjirika		F
ValaMalduran	ValaM
iolanda	Iolanda
Rac80	Rachel		F
kamiikiteiru	Kami		V
PirateBijjy	Bijjy		F	(GatePirate on FF.net)
Blower'sGate	BG
marbleC	Walter	guy
SG1Cat	Darryl	guy	F
Cat283	Buttercup		F	(Boutondor on LJ)
LittleMissJigsaw	Kelly		F/V
Fehrytales	Fehry
ObsessiveShip	Cecilia
Stargate78fan	Dannii		F/V	(Gommeroi on FF.net)
Lilacs4370	Jenn

Definitions

Fruitcakes = they who ship Daniel/Vala

The Oven = the Daniel/Vala Ship thread

DeVilish = the pairing of Daniel/Vala (like Sparky or Spanky or Sheyla)

We came for DeVilish, we stayed for the Fruitcakes = our pseudo slogan

A = Artist (Icons, Banners, Wallpapers, etc)

C = Capper

E = Enabler

F = Ficcer

G = Groupie

V = Vidder